Worlds Apart
by gay.panic97
Summary: Swan Queen Magical baby with a twist. There's magic. There's drama. There's humor. There's Swan Queen, folks. Rated M for strong language.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: So, this is just something that popped in my head one day, and now it's possessing my life night and day. No big deal or anything. I am aware that I have another story that is ongoing, and I'm neglecting the hell out of that, but this one is moving along so much faster. What are you going to do, amiright? This story is a total change of pace from anything else I've written here. Tell me what you think!_

* * *

The first person to come and wake me up that morning was my mom. I was lying face-down in bed, snoring contentedly into my pillow, dreaming about food mostly. Then, my mother's voice drifted into my head, coaxing me gently from my sleep.

"Ava, dear," she said in that throaty, comforting voice. It was a warm voice, the same that had talked me down from nightmares and soothed me for as long as I could remember. "It's time to wake up and get ready for school. Breakfast will be ready shortly."

"Ugh," I groaned back as her fingers combed gently through my hair. "Be down in a minute."

"Alright, but you'd better get up." She walked back out the door, closing it softly behind her. I dropped my face right back into my pillow and drifted back to sleep with breakfast on my mind. Pancakes. Bacon. Eggs. Waffles. Everything good in life.

My door was opened again, but I didn't wake at the sound of it. Nor did I wake at the footsteps crossing the hardwood floors, hitting a few squeaky floorboards. And I certainly didn't notice anyone standing over me as I slept. However, I did wake when a body suddenly jumped next to me on the bed, and a pair of hands attacked my sides, tickling my rib cage manically.

"Stop!" I squealed out, wriggling and laughing uncontrollably. "Let me go!"

"Didn't your mother tell you to get up?" I caught a flash of long, blonde hair through my narrowed, watering eyes. "Didn't she, Ava Isabelle?"

"Ma stop it!" I wheezed, pushing at her hands frantically. "Stop tickling me!"

"Are you awake now, young lady?" My other mother questioned. "Tell me you're awake, and I'll stop."

"I'm awake! I'm awake!" I cried out in surrender, and her fingers relented at last. I sucked in deep breaths, chest rolling, before looking over at my mother who laid beside me, grinning proudly. Her green eyes sparkled with mirth, one arm still locked around my neck. "You're a creep, you know that?"

"I am not a creep," she said back with feigned offense. "I am your mother, young lady. Are you trying to break my heart?"

"You apparently just tried to break my ribs," I remarked, rubbing my sides and wincing. "And you almost succeeded, too."

"You're just being a baby," she rolled her eyes at me before squeezing me close. "My little baby girl!" She planted kisses all over my face while I fought against her, frowning as I tried to pry her arms off me.

"Well, look at this." We both looked up to see my mom standing in the doorway, arms crossed as she leaned against the frame. She was dressed as impeccably as always in a dark blue dress, black hair styled to perfection. Her makeup was flawlessly applied, and ruby-red lips quirked up in a smirk at us as cognac eyes glimmered. She was picture perfect—the exact opposite of my mother and me. "What exactly happened here?"

"Ma tried to maul me like a wild animal. I probably have bruises."

"You're so dramatic," Ma teased, finally releasing her hold on me. I sat up in bed, shaking my mahogany brown tresses out over my shoulders. "If you would've woken up when your mom came in earlier, I wouldn't have had to bring down the thunder and the lightning."

"Weird-o," I mumbled, but there was an undeniable smile on my lips. Moving to the mirror on the wall, I assessed the damage of that morning. My hair was a mess of tangles, and I yanked my brush through it. I took in my face, checking for any surprise bumps or zits. Ever since entering what I liked to call "pre-womanhood", I'd been terrified of my hormones raging war on my face. Not that I was vain or anything, but nobody wants to be called a pizza-face. Thankfully, my complexion had been spared so far with the only blemishes being the freckles that I'd had all my life. Mom moved behind me, pulling my hair back over my shoulders and smiling at me. Her fingers weaved through each strand expertly, braiding them loosely.

"You look beautiful," she told me, and Ma appeared on my other side, hands on her hips and smile on her face. I looked between the two of them then at my own reflection. A perfect mixture of the two women. I had my mom's lips but my ma's nose. My creamy skin tone was a cross somewhere between Mom's olive and Ma's fair pink. And then there were the eyes. My eyes were the first thing anyone ever noticed about me, and who could blame them, really? They were extremely striking. My right eye was deep, amber brown like my mom's, warm and fiery. My left one, though, was the same blue-green as my ma's, changing shades every hour. Stuff like that happened when you were the direct product of True Love's magic.

"Thanks, but I look like somebody who just got attacked by a maniac," I said back, wiping the sleep from my eyes and yawning. "Which I did. I have to get ready for school. Hey, Mom, did you ever find that ancestry book thing you were talking about? We're supposed to turn in that family tree project at the end of the week, and today we need to bring a research resource in to show that we're making progress. I've got Ma's side covered—Gran and Gramps helped me out with that, but I still need something on your side."

"There's a book downstairs in my study. It's got my family records in it—you can take that in."

"Ava, the principal is your grandmother," Ma said as I changed out of my pajamas and stepped into my jeans. "When are you going to take advantage of that and start shirking your responsibilities? Seriously, are you even my child?"

"Emma," Mom scoffed at her, though we both knew Ma was just joking.

"It's not necessarily a good thing, y'know. I mean, yeah, it can be, but mostly it just means I'm held to a higher standard than everybody else. And if I get in trouble at school, I get to hear about it at home for days. Not to mention it means I'm automatically signed up to help with every extra-curricular program because Gran volunteers me. If I have to be the water-dunk contestant for one more charity fair, I'm going to lose it."

"I told you to pull the loving granddaughter card more often," Ma advised. "Puppy-dog eyes. Shaking of the lower lip. The whole package. Always works for me. After me and your mother got together, your gran thought she'd never get anymore grandkids out of me. You're her magical miracle—work that angle, Ava."

"You're an idiot, you know that?" Mom cocked an eyebrow at her, arms crossed.

"Yeah, but you married me." Ma grinned, moving to her side and pulling her in her arms. "So, now I'm your idiot— _forever_." She kissed my mom, who smiled into her lips.

"Hey, ugh, no!" I glared at them. "Get out of here with that gross crap!"

"Don't you want to know how you were conceived?" Ma wiggled her eyebrows, and I grimaced. "It was more than just magic, y'know."

"I swear, sometimes it's like you two are just trying to traumatize me into adulthood."

"We love you, too, dear." Mom beamed as Ma stood behind her and wrapped her arms around her waist.

The three of us walked downstairs to the kitchen where breakfast was waiting. Mom poured herself out a cup of coffee while Ma and I made ourselves a couple cups of cinnamon-sprinkled hot chocolate, topped with whipped cream like always.

"You two are going to rot your teeth out," Mom told us just as she did every morning.

"Risk I'm willing to take," we said simultaneously and shared a smirk between each other. I grabbed a strip of bacon from the plate on the island counter and popped it in my mouth.

"Has anyone talked to Henry lately?" I questioned.

"He called this morning while you were still sleeping," Mom answered. "He said the new book tour is going well so far. Hopefully, he'll be home in another few days."

"Good. He could help me out with the family tree thing. I think he'd like it, too. Tracing our roots back and all that." I glanced at the clock on the stove. "I have to go—Neal's probably waiting for me already. You said the book is on your desk, right? I'll just grab it and go."

"Alright, dear," Mom called as I rushed into her office. "Be careful and have a good day. Tell Neal we said hello."

"Don't cause any trouble!" Ma called after me. "Hate for them to have to call the Sheriff on you." She wore her badge proudly on her hip with a grin as if she was actually being witty.

"Wasn't funny when you said it yesterday, isn't funny today," I called back, grabbing the book on my mom's desk, and I shouldered my book bag that waited for me by the door. "Bye! Love you!"

I was out the door in an instant, tucking a beanie on over my hair as their "love you too's" echoed behind me. Taking the stairs two at a time, I opened the front gate and made my way out onto the sidewalk where my uncle—though I refused to call him that since we were, after all, the same age—Neal Nolan was waiting for me with a smile. His curly blonde hair was trimmed neatly, and his Charming-blue eyes glimmered at me.

"Hello, Clarice," he greeted in a voice that sounded eerily like Anthony Hopkins. I rolled my eyes. A few years ago, Neal had taken up mimicking everything. Movies. Shows. People. _Everything_. He claimed impressionism was his passion in life. I claimed he was stupid.

"Shut up," I said shortly.

"About time you showed up. Almost froze to death out here waiting on you."

We fell into step together, headed for school. "Don't exaggerate. It's not _that_ cold."

"What's that?" He nodded to the black leather-bound book under my arm. "Looks old."

"Mom's family records. For that ancestry project."

"Oh man! We were supposed to bring in a book today, weren't we? Shit, I forgot! Mom's going to kill me!"

"You can share the one I'm bringing on Ma's side." I looked down at the cover of the book curiously. "Hey, does this look weird to you?" He peered over my shoulder, brow knit at the cover. There were strange symbols and runes written on it that looked ancient. "What is that? Spanish?"

"Sure, Ava. It's Spanish. That's why it's written in hieroglyphs instead of letters." I rolled my eyes at him before looking back to the book. "I thought your mom was teaching you Spanish."

"I'm not very good at it. We both gave up after, like, a week." Opening the book up, I frowned. Inside were more of the odd symbols. "Weird. I think I grabbed the wrong book." I ran my hand over the dusty pages, and the words glowed purple at my touch, warming against my fingertips. Neal and I shared a wide-eyed look. "Whoa."

"I don't know about this book, Ava. That's magic—I know it when I see it."

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock." He cut his eyes at me. "It's definitely magic, and it feels powerful." I flipped the pages, absorbing the scribbles and the strong, commanding feeling that rose off them.

"I don't think you should be messing around with that. I mean, it could mean trouble. You know how dangerous magic is."

"Only if you don't know what you're doing."

"Yeah, and neither of us do!"

"Speak for yourself, amateur. I'm basically made of magic, dude. Mom and Ma like to tell me I'm not to make me feel more normal, but I know biology. No way I popped out without some supernatural assistance."

"Yeah, and that alone should be enough to keep you away from this stuff. Your moms are like super powerful and great at magic, and they made you _by accident._ " I glared at him. "No offense, but it's true. Not even they can control magic sometimes. No way we can."

"It's a book, Neal. You can't cast a curse just by looking in a book. There are steps to it. You need ingredients and all that." I turned the page again, and a mushroom-cloud of dust erupted from the movement. Floating up in my face, the particles entered my nose, and I felt the telling tickle in my nostrils. Before I could pull the book away, I sneezed. The words on the page swept up into the air, dancing in a whirlwind before freezing. They glowed purple again before vanishing in a plume of smoke.

"The hell was what?" I mumbled.

Neal shrugged. "Don't know. Don't want to know. This stuff gives me the creeps. We should go before we're late for—"

The ground began to tremble beneath us violently, and we fell to our knees, grasping onto each other's arms for stability.

"What the hell is this?" Neal shouted at me over the loud rumbling.

"An earthquake!" I answered.

"In Storybrooke? Since when?"

"I don't know! Maybe it's—"

Suddenly, the pavement beneath us cracked and split open, swallowing us both. Our screams rang out as we tumbled down into cold, blinding darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Thanks so much for the follows and feedback for the first chapter. This is a different perspective and plot for me, but I'm liking how it's coming out. Review please!_

* * *

It felt like I fell for years before my feet finally hit the ground hard, legs buckling under me. My arms were wrapped around Neal, and he gripped me back tight. Both of us screamed as we collapsed together on the ground.

I recovered first, opening my eyes and looking around. Frowning, I looked at Neal as he still shrieked, eyes squeezed closed in terror.

"Neal!" I shouted at him, and he finally stopped.

"Where are we?" he demanded. "What happened?"

"No clue, but it looks like we're still just in town." We peered around, rising to our feet. "Maybe we just, like, hallucinated it?"

"Could be a dream. Let me check." Reaching over, he pinched my arm sharply.

"Ow!" I jerked away from him.

"Nope, not a dream. Must've been magic. I told you not to mess with that book, Ava! Now we have to figure out what the hell we did."

"Speaking of," I frowned, looking down at my hands. "Where's the book?"

"What do you mean 'where's the book?'" he demanded, eyes wide.

"I mean, it's not in my hands." I looked around to see if I'd dropped it. "It's not here."

"It has to be! We could've opened a hole in the space-time continuum for all we know—we need that book to undo this!"

"Well, I don't have it. Maybe we didn't do anything. Maybe we just caused a spontaneous earthquake or something?"

"And you're _okay_ with that?"

"It didn't seem to affect anyone else." I looked around at the town with a frown. The chasm in the pavement was gone like it had never been there, and everyone was just walking around as if nothing at all had happened. "I don't think they even noticed."

"How in the hell would they not have noticed?"

"Something really weird is going on here, Neal. This doesn't feel right. We need to figure this out." My eyes landed on a short, stout man staggering down the street, cap pulled down and salt-and-pepper beard ungroomed. "There's Leroy—let's see if he saw it." We rushed to the sidewalk. "Hey, Leroy! Wait!"

The dwarf turned, his trademark scowl in place, and glared at us.

I smiled at him. "Leroy, did you feel that earthquake?"

"Do we know each other?" he questioned in a voice hardened from steeping in beer for years. Neal and I both frowned. "Earthquake? What are you talking about, kid? And how do you know my name?"

"You… You don't know us?" Neal asked. "It's us, Leroy. Neal and Ava."

"Those names supposed to mean something to me?" he grumbled. "Look, you two, I just spent the night in a jail cell, and I've got a hangover from hell. I ain't got the time or the patience for practical jokes."

This was weird. It didn't make sense. Why wouldn't Leroy know us? What was going on? The town felt different. Eerie. Looking around, I noted how everyone just strolled along with no real purpose or intent, their movements mechanical and forced. Practiced. Like they were…

"Shit," I breathed, eyes widening in realization. Suddenly, it all made sense. I'd heard enough stories about what a cursed Storybrooke was like to know exactly what I was seeing.

Neal, on the other hand, was still in the dark. "Leroy, it's Neal—you know me! I'm Snow White's—"

"Neal," I hissed and shook my head at him. Looking back at Leroy, I flashed him a smile. "You caught us. We were pulling a prank, but you're too smart for us." He smiled smugly at the compliment. "Sorry about that. We won't bother you anymore."

Moving the other direction, I steered Neal to the street corner.

"What's going on, Ava?" he asked. "Why doesn't he know us? Why does everything feel so weird?"

"Neal, I think we went back in time or to a different realm," I told him, and his eyes widened. "This is Storybrooke before my ma broke the curse. These people don't even know themselves, much less us. Hell, we haven't even been born yet."

"This is bad. Oh, shit, Ava, this is bad. We have to get out of here!"

"I know. We have to get that book back. If we went back in time, we could monumentally screw up the future. We've got to stay calm right now. Don't panic. Don't do anything stupid. We—"

Neal's face brightened as he peered over my shoulder. "It's mom." Turning, I saw Gran walking on the other side of the street, hands clasped in front of her. "Mom!" He bolted forward.

"Neal, wait." I grabbed his arm, holding him back, and he fought against me. "You can't."

"Let me go, Ava! That's my mom."

"Didn't you listen to anything I just said? We don't even know what dimension we're in. She won't know who you are."

"Of course, she will. She's my mom!" My hold on his bicep slipped, and he raced across the street to Gran. My eyes widened as he threw his arms around her without preamble. She looked totally shocked by him, and I frowned. Well, that wasn't good.

Checking the road for traffic beforehand, I jogged across the street to them and tried to think of a way to defuse the situation Neal had caused.

"Can I help you?" Gran questioned, examining Neal with a furrowed brow.

He looked ready to cry at the confusion in her eyes. "You don't recognize me?"

"I'm sorry, I don't." She shook her head. "Are you lost? Where are your parents?"

"You're my—"

"There you are!" I ran up to Neal, plastering the best smile I could manage on my face. Gran looked at me curiously. "Geez, Neal, you can't run off like that on me." I looked at Gran, resting my hand on Neal's shoulder. "Sorry about that. You look a lot like our mom from behind—he got excited. I told him that she's at work, but, y'know, kids. What are you going to do?" Neal was far too upset over his mother not recognizing him to be as offended as he normally would have.

Gran smiled in obvious amusement at me. "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint then. Do you two need a ride anywhere? Maybe I could take you to your mother."

"Oh, no. Like I said, she's working right now. We just came out for a walk. Fresh air and all that. Sorry again." I gave Neal's shoulder a soft squeeze, and he surrendered his grip on Gran at last.

"It's perfectly fine. You two be careful—and get back home."

"We will." Curving my arm around Neal's shoulder, we walked down the street together. I glanced at his downcast face. "Are you okay?"

"She didn't recognize me," he mumbled. "Not even a little bit. I mean, I know we're in, like, some different world or whatever, but I still thought that maybe she'd know who I am. I mean, she's my mom." His voice cracked on the word.

"I know. It sucks, but it will be alright. We're going to get back to our world where we belong. I promise. Okay?"

He sniffled before looking at me. "How are we going to do that? Nobody knows us here."

"Well, we need the book," I reasoned. "And it is a magic spell book. This is Storybrooke before the curse broke. I'd be willing to bet there are only two places a magical item could be here." He knit his brow in confusion, looking a remarkable amount like Gramps. "My mom's vault or Gold's shop."

"Oh," he finally said. "Oh, yeah. That makes sense. So, where do we go first?"

"Well, it'd probably be smartest to—"

"Hey there." The small voice stopped me in my tracks. I knew that voice, even if I was used to hearing it at a much deeper octave. Eyes wide, I looked up. There stood my big brother. Except he was younger than me. Weird. He barely even resembled himself, except for the eyes. And the smile—that was one hundred percent Henry.

"I've never seen you two before, and I know everyone here," he continued, a slightly nervous tick in his voice. I recalled Henry telling me once before that he hadn't had many friends as a kid, and my eyes softened. "I'm Henry Mills."

Neal sputtered. "What?"

I kicked his leg as discreetly as possible as I smiled at Henry. "Hi, Henry. I'm Ava Swa-ift." Neal cut his eyes at me incredulously. "Ava Swift. This is my brother, Neal Swift. Good to meet you."

"I've never seen either of you at school before," Henry noted.

"We're homeschooled," Neal threw in. Finally. That was the first helpful thing he'd said all day.

"Yeah, homeschooled," I agreed. "We don't get out very much."

Henry's face brightened. "Oh, well, if you want someone to hang out with some time… I'm free. Pretty much all the time. I don't get out much either." He frowned at himself, and I could tell he was cursing himself for letting that slip.

I smiled. "That would be nice."

"Cool. Maybe we could—"

"Henry!" My heart jumped into my throat at the all-too familiar voice, and my back straightened like a board. Clenching my fists as Neal and Henry both turned, I readied myself for what was to come. Steeled my emotions and schooled my reaction. Because if this was Storybrooke before the curse ended, then that had to be my mom before she changed for the better. That was the Evil Queen.

She came to Henry's side, hand resting on his shoulder, and I swallowed hard before looking up at her. I was met with dark brown eyes, and they were almost unrecognizable. There was no warmth in those eyes. No joy. No laughter. They were cold and calculated as they looked Neal over. Then, they shifted to me, and, upon seeing my own eyes, they filled with intrigue.

"Henry, who is this?" she asked, gaze still trained on me. I could feel Neal shuffling uncomfortably beside me, glancing at me with concern.

"This is Ava and Neal Swift," Henry answered. "They're brother and sister, and they're my friends."

Neal snorted and lowered his voice. "Bold assumption."

Mom glowered down at him. "Excuse me, what was that you said?" His eyes widened in terror.

"Nothing," I interjected, and she looked back at me. Again, her expression filled with curiosity. "Sorry about him. He talks without thinking." I shot Neal a withering look. "Unfortunately, manners are not his strong suit."

"Well, aren't you quite the young ruler," Mom smirked at me. "You carry yourself with all the grace and dignity of a queen, Miss Swift."

I smiled sheepishly. "Thanks. My mom always tells me that you get the respect you demand."

Her lips parted in surprise. "That… That's a very good motto to stand by. Your mother sounds quite wise."

"She is."

Her eyes lingered on me a moment longer before she turned back to Henry. "Come along, Henry. You have an appointment with Dr. Hopper shortly."

"Mom." Henry's cheeks flushed as he groaned. "I finally get some friends, and you tell them right off the bat that I'm a weird, therapy kid."

"Weird is right," Neal muttered to me. "Who knew Henry used to be such a dork?"

I landed an elbow in his ribs, and he wheezed, bending slightly. "It's okay, Henry. Therapy doesn't make you weird. We all have our issues. It's healthy to talk about them to an uninvolved third party."

Henry narrowed his eyes at me. "You sound like my mom."

Mom's lips quirked upwards. "I like this girl, Henry."

"Well, we should be going now. Our mother will be home soon, and she'll expect us there, too. Nice talking to you both. Talk to you later, Henry." He looked ecstatic at the mere prospect. I grabbed Neal by the arm and walked briskly down the street with him in tow.

"God, Ava," he scoffed at me. "I think you bruised my ribs."

"Well, you were being an idiot," I growled back. "This is serious, Neal. We have to get out of here fast. You could've blown our cover, like, a million times back there. In front of literally the last person in the world we want to know who we really are."

He eyed me a moment cautiously. "Hey. Are you okay? I, uh, I know how bad it sucks for your own mother to look at you like you're a stranger. I can't imagine how much harder it must be seeing your mom… like that."

I frowned. "I'm fine, Neal. I didn't mean it like that. What I meant was she's one of the few people in this town who knows about magic right now. She would actually believe us, and that could change the future completely." I clenched my jaw in determination at his searching look. "I'm fine."

"Well, good. Oh, by the way—Swift? As in Taylor? Seriously? That's the very best you could think of?"

"It was spur of the moment," I shrugged. "I panicked. And I didn't see you helping very much, Einstein."

"Hey, that's not true. I came up with the homeschool bit."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah. I'm sure that took a lot of brain power to make up." I sighed, stopping in front of Granny's Diner. "I'm starved. Let's get a bite."

"What?" he said. "Shouldn't we be focusing on getting back home? There's no time for burgers and curly fries."

"First off, there is always time for burgers and curly fries. Secondly, I'm going to need my energy to keep this charade up. Especially if I'm going to have to carry this whole operation on my back." Brushing past him, I strutted up to the diner.

"Hey, no fair!" he whined after me. The two of us entered together and chose a booth near the front window. "How are we even going to pay for this, Ava? I don't have any money."

"Not all of us spend all our allowance on video games and contraband nudie magazines." I fished through my wallet, counting my cash out and ignoring the scorn on his face. There was also the glimmer of a black plastic card inside. Mom gave it to me a year earlier. Emergencies Only Visa. Well, if this wasn't an emergency, I didn't know what was.

"What can I get you two today?" We looked up to see Ruby standing there. Both our gazes fell to her open-collar shirt and exposed midriff. Neal's jaw fell open. Ruby back home didn't dress conservatively by any stretch of the imagination, but this Ruby made ours look modest in comparison.

"Wow," Neal mouthed, unable to blink.

"Hi." I grinned brightly in the hopes of distracting Ruby from Neal's expression. The last thing I wanted to do was get banned from Granny's from him. Everything else I could handle. Not having Granny's food? Those circumstances were unlivable. "We'll have two orders of burgers and curly fries. Root beer to drink for me and a Coke for him, please."

"Coming right up." Ruby smiled at me before giving Neal an unsure look and trotted off. Neal watched after her, his tongue practically lolling out at the mini skirt from behind. Screwing my face up, I kicked him under the table.

"Ow!" he yelped. "The hell was that for?"

"Being a perv," I answered with a glare. "And an idiot again. Are you just determined to screw up the timeline? You do realize how fragile this situation is, right? It's the Butterfly effect, dude."

He knit his brow. "What's that? Like, a nature documentary or something?"

I rolled my eyes. "It means if we make even the tiniest of changes, it could lead to bigger ones. Colossal ones. We could alter the future drastically. Is that what you want?"

"Of course not."

"Then stop being a dumbass." I combed my fingers through my hair. "We need to be smart, y'know? Covert. This is a high-risk situation. First things first, we should check Gold's shop for the book. That'll be the easiest to get into. If it isn't there, we'll try the vault."

"And if it isn't there, either?"

I frowned. "I don't know, Neal. Damn. I'm doing the best I can here. We'll deal with that if we have to." I tapped my fingers on the table top. "I feel pretty confident, though, that it will be one of those two places. It must be. No one else knows magic exists." I clasped my hands together nervously. "We'll find it, Neal. We have to."


	3. Chapter 3

"Do we have anything even resembling a plan?"

Neal and I stood camped out on the curb near Gold's pawn shop.

"Here's the strategy," I said. "You go in first. Distract him. I sneak in behind you and get back to the store room. If he's aware he has the book, he won't keep something so powerful out front for just anyone to find. I find the book, sneak back out, and you leave."

"That's not a strategy, Ava. That's bullshit."

"Hey—rude. It's the best we've got right now."

"Why do I have to distract him?" he moaned. "Gold is terrifying! I'll be shark bait in there."

"You're overreacting. Gold's not that bad."

"Ava, he's the freaking Dark One."

"Yeah? So was my mom. Don't hear me complaining." He glared at me. "Neal, you can't even find your socks most mornings. I am not trusting you to find one book in a room that I'm sure is full of a million more."

He paused before nodding. "Fair point. Fine. I'll distract him. You look."

"Sweet. Operation Dark Bait is a go." I turned the corner and crept towards the shop.

"That's a stupid name for it," Neal hissed as he walked by me. I grinned to myself. He was just mad about being the bait. We both knew damn well that name was genius.

Neal walked to the door of the shop and took a deep breath before entering. Keeping low, I slipped in behind him.

"How may I help you?" At the sounds of Gold's approaching footsteps from the back, I darted for the nearest hiding spot, concealing myself behind a large chest in the corner.

"Um, hi there," Neal said. "Uh, how are you today, sir?"

I didn't need to see to know the suspicious look Gold was giving him. "I'm not in the mood to waste time. What can I do for you, young man?"

For a moment, Neal was quiet, and I prayed to who or whatever might be listening for him to get a hold of himself before the plan was blown.

Apparently, something heard me and took pity.

"It isn't what you can do for me, sir. It's what I can do for you." It was Neal's best salesman impression, which he'd started doing a year or two earlier after some poor, lost idiot stumbled into Storybrooke and tried to sell Gran and Gramps a vacuum cleaner. Neal, the persistent impressionist, took very detailed notes before the man was not-so-politely run off by an annoyed Gramps.

"Excuse me?" Gold sounded just as confused as he should've been.

Cheering Neal on in my head, I crawled along the wall, hiding in shadows and coats and whatever else was nearby.

"Today really is your lucky day, sir. We're having a one-day-only sale that you won't believe."

Gold sighed. "I'm not interested." The door to the storage room was just a few feet ahead of me, and I sped up slightly. Until, of course, my hand landed on a loose floorboard, and it let out a cringeworthy squeak under my weight. I froze. _Shit_.

"What was—"

Neal floundered for words, silencing Gold's question before he could investigate the sound. I held my breath. "Oh, sir, how can you not be interested when you don't know what I'm offering?"

"Fine then, boy, what are you offering?" Clearly, he was annoyed. But annoyed was fine. Annoyed was still distracted. I inched forward more carefully.

'I'll tell you what I'm offering, sir. I'm offering a brighter future. I'm in the business of betterment, sir. Betterment of you and me. Of all mankind. Betterment of the whole world. I'm selling happy endings, sir, and the price has just been reduced by thirty-five percent!"

Gold's voice was harsh and low. "There are no such things as happy endings here, son." Suddenly, a pair of black, leather Oxfords appeared in front of me, and I might have crawled right over them had it not been for the legs attached. Dry-mouthed, I lifted my head to find the Dark One glowering down at me, foot raised slightly as if he might just step on me like a bug.

"And what are you doing, Dearie?" he questioned angrily. For a silent, horrific moment, my mind was a total blank.

My hands patted the floor frantically, and I looked around, squinting.

"Ugh. Nope. They're not here, either." I stood abruptly, catching a brief glimpse of Neal's petrified expression behind Gold. "Sorry about that. I'm just trying to find my glasses. Dropped them somewhere in here. Can't see a thing without them. If I could just check around for them some more, that'd be great. Get free reign of the store. Y'know, they could be in the back room for all I know…"

Gold narrowed his eyes, and I could tell me story was far from satisfactory. "You had better get out of here now, or else I'll call the cops."

I nodded my head. "On second thought, I have contacts." Turning on my heel, I fled for the door. Neal followed not far behind. We were out the door in a second and bent over panting at the end of the street in another.

"Well, that didn't work," I mumbled.

"Yeah, no shit! Jesus, Ava. He could've killed me. Find some different bait. I'm not doing it again."

"No, bait isn't going to work," I shook my head. "Gold is too smart for that. Plus, he knows our faces now. We're going to have to do this in the not-so-legal way." Neal frowned in confusion. "We're going to have to break into his shop."

His jaw fell open. "What? Are you insane? Wait, don't answer that. I already know. You are insane. You must be to want to break into the Dark One's inner freaking sanctum!"

"It's not a sanctum. It's a pawn shop."

"Owned by Rumpelstiltskin! This is the worst idea you've ever had, Ava."

"We don't have a choice," I said. "We have to find that book, Neal. If there is any chance at all that Gold has it, we have to take the risk. It's not an option."

"I don't like." He chewed on his lower lip uncertainly. "It's illegal, and Mom isn't crazy about me breaking the law. Remember when I stole that keychain from the Pharmacy? Grounded for a week, and I had to apologize to Sneezy. And he sneezed in my face."

"Do you want to get back home to your mom or not? I'm pretty sure she isn't going to care how we get back to our own world so long as we get there. Sometimes you have to do a bad thing for the greater good."

He frowned. "More words-to-live-by from Regina Mills?"

"No." I squared my jaw. "Ma said that." His eyes widened, and I could practically hear the thoughts in his head. _If the lily-white Savior said it, it had to be true. Right?_

"Fine," he sighed, shoulders sagging. "Let's do it. Let's break into Gold's store.


	4. Chapter 4

"This is really freaking stupid, Ava."

Internally, I found myself agreeing with Neal as we slunk down the street, using nightfall to cover our approach. We made our way towards Gold's shop, avoiding the glow of the streetlights.

"Shut up," I snapped back at him, tugging my beanie further down on my head. "We're going to get caught if you keep talking so loud."

"We're going to get caught regardless," he shook his head. "Gold probably has security measures on top of security measures to protect this place. He's not an idiot."

I didn't say anything. The truth was, I wasn't so confident in my plan. Mostly because it wasn't much of a plan at all. We hadn't worked out how we would get into the shop at all, and our exit strategy was as simple as walking out the door we came in. In truth, we were as ill-prepared as could possibly be. But we had to do it. We had to at least try.

When we reached the front door of the shop, I pulled on it, though I already knew what I'd find.

"Locked," Neal said when it refused to budge. "Rats. Foiled again. Well, better luck next time." He started to turn.

"Neal," I rolled my eyes, and he looked back at him. "Stop being such a wuss."

That kicked him into gear. The old Charming ego my mom always went on and on about reared its head, and he glowered at me.

"I'm not." He pushed me back away from the door. "Out of the way. This is no job for a little girl." I crossed my arms expectantly, eyebrows raised as he backed away from the door. A few deep breaths and a shake of his head to encourage himself, and Neal sprinted forward at full-speed. He collided with the door like a load of bricks, stopped immediately, and crumbled to the ground. The door, predictably, didn't give an inch.

"Ow," he croaked hoarsely from the ground.

"Dumb ass," I mumbled and helped him to his feet. "Move. Let the _little girl_ take care of it." I took my scarf from around my neck and wrapped it around my hand a few times.

"What are you doing?"

Tightening my jaw and squeezing my eyes closed, I reared back and punched the glass of the door in. Reaching through, I felt for the doorknob, unlocked it, and pushed it open. My hand burned from the stray glass shards that pierced straight through the scarf, but I kept it wrapped to hide the blood from Neal.

"There," I sighed, stepping inside. Glass crunched under my sneakers. "Easy."

"Are you insane?" Neal growled. "You could've set off an alarm doing that."

"Yeah, but I didn't."

"Could be a silent alarm."

"Neal, this isn't Mission: Impossible, and, as much as I know it breaks your heart, you are not Tom Cruise. Now, hurry up before someone sees us."

He followed me inside the shop, grumbling about how he most certainly was Tom Cruise.

"Shut up," I said with a roll of my eyes. "If anyone is Tom Cruise in this scenario, it's me. You're my wimpy sidekick."

"Oh yeah? Which one of us here can do a spot-on impression of Tom Cruise on Oprah?"

I snorted. "Neither of us."

"Hey, my Tom Cruise is uncanny, and you know it. You're just…"

His sentence drifted off into oblivion. We stood in the doorway of Gold's storage room, eyes wide and mouths agape. To say the room was packed full of shit was an understatement. Floor to ceiling. Every corner. Every shelf. Every inch of space. Shit. Shit. More shit.

"Damn," I muttered. "Hasn't Gold ever heard of the system catalog? How does he run a business in this mess?"

"Number one, he's not actually running a business. He makes his money strong-arming the whole town. Number two, this is before he got back with Belle. She's the only one who keeps his store from looking like this back home."

"True that. Alright. Let's get this over with. The faster we get moving, the faster we can get out of here."

So, flashlights in hand, we set to it. We turned that storage room upside down, finding every book we could. And there were a lot. Too damn many. Even if I liked books, I would never have that many. It was ridiculous. And while we found many items that seemed to reek with magical capabilities, we did not find _the_ book.

"Shit," I cursed, kicking over a stock of boxes. "It's not here."

"You sure?" Neal asked. "Maybe we missed somewhere?"

"We looked everywhere in this stupid room. It isn't here."

"Isn't that good, though? That means it must be in your mom's vault. So, we go there, and we get it."

I bit my lip. "Yeah, I guess."

"You sound like your making your sad face. Hang on." He lifted the flashing and shone it in my face. "Yep, that's the one. What's wrong, Ava?"

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"'I'm fine' is Ava-speak for totally not fine. What is it?"

I sighed. "It's just that I was hoping we would be able to avoid my mom as much as possible." I frowned. "Seeing her like she is here is… I don't want it to change how I see her back home. The real her. I love my mom. I always will, but she's not the same person here. She… She's the Evil Queen. She's angry and hurt and lonely here, and she hurts everyone around her, too. I know how much this version of her put a strain on hers and Henry's relationship. They're good now, but there are still these moments when I can see it in both their eyes. He gets scared that she might revert to evil, and it hurts her that he thinks she could. I don't want to look at her and see anything other than… than Mom."

Neal gave me a sympathetic look and squeezed. "Ava, that's not—"

There was the sound of footsteps approaching, and we stiffened at them.

"Shit," I hissed as we turned off our flashlights. "Go—out the back! Run!"

Neal spun around and sprinted out the door into the alley, and I followed close behind. I was nearly there when a spotlight fell on me.

"Not so fast."

My blood froze in my veins as I came to an abrupt halt, sneakers squeaking against the floor. Heart hammering, I turned slowly, facing the blinding glow of the flashlight.

There was an eternity of silence and then a heavy sigh. "You're just a kid." When the torch was dropped down a bit, I blinked away spots until my vision cleared. I stared into cool green eyes, and my throat closed. I couldn't help the small, strangled sound that ground out of my mouth, barely audible.

"Ma."

It would've sounded relieved if she wasn't looking at me like a total stranger. Stepping towards me, she eyed me up and down.

"The hell are you doing something stupid like this for, kid?" she asked me, and there was faint glimmer of something in her eyes. A vague look of recognition. My breath caught.

"I… uh…"

"Where are your parents?"

My head dropped, and my hands balled into fists at my sides. "Not here."

"Oh." She said it like she understood completely what I meant, and I was sure she thought she did. I was well aware of what my ma's life had been like before Storybrooke. An orphan from birth, as far as she knew anyway. Foster home to foster home. Juvenile centers. Prison. A nomadic lifestyle with no home or place to belong. Looking at me in that moment was probably like looking into a mirror of the past. "I see." There was a moment of quiet between us where I couldn't bring myself to look up at her again. "Come on."

She turned and started walking, so certain that I would follow. And I did, if only out of curiosity. She was being so cavalier about this. I broke into a shop with intent to steal. She was the Sheriff. Where were the handcuffs? The recitation of charges and rights? What the hell was she doing?

"Come on where?" I asked with a furrowed brow. "Jail?"

She chuckled. "I'm not locking you up, kid. At least not right now. We'll go to the station, and you can tell me why you broke into a shop owned by the shadiest guy in town. But I'm not arresting you right now." She cut her eyes back at me. "Unless you make me."

I gulped. "Nope. I'll comply."

We climbed into the squad car waiting out front, and she drove us to the Sheriff's station in relative silence aside from the static hum from the police scanner. I stared ahead the whole time, hands clasped tight in my lap, not even daring to shift in the seat. She glanced at me continually but made no attempt at conversation. I prayed with everything in me that Neal found some place quiet to hunker down for the night until I could get this mess sorted out.

Ma led me into the station and dropped down into her seat at her desk unceremoniously. I had to fight to hide a smile at the familiar of being there with her. How many times had I hung out with her at work back home? Done my homework while she and Gramps bickered about the responsibilities of municipal authority—meaning Ma wanted to skip patrol that evening and go home early, and Gramps wouldn't let her. Played cards with Leroy while he sat in his holding cell, passing his time in detainment from a drunken mistake made the night before. This was the most normal I'd felt since dropping into this world.

"You going to sit down or what?" Ma asked, propping her feet up on the desk.

"Oh, sure. Yeah." I sat down in the seat across from her, tucking my legs up under my body.

"Hungry?" she reached into drawer of her desk and retrieved a box of doughnuts from Granny's. My mouth watered, and she laughed. "I'll take that as a yes. You like bear claws?"

"Is that even a question?" I said, and she grinned before passing me one on a napkin. "Thanks."

"Sure thing. Got some hot cocoa my roommate packed for me, too." She held up the large thermos. "It has cinnamon on it, though."

"That's fine," I smiled. "That's how I like it."

She raised her eyebrows before grabbing a paper cup and filling it with cocoa. "Weird. I go my whole life and never meet anyone who likes hot chocolate with cinnamon. I come to this town, and I find not just Mary Margaret but you, too."

I took the cup with a grateful nod. "Maybe you belonged her all along."

She snorted before taking a sip from her own cup. "You sound like my kid, Henry. What's your name anyway?"

"Ava Swift."

"Ava, I'm Emma Swan. You new to town?"

"You could say that."

She gave me a hard look. "So, Ava, why were you stealing from Gold?" I frowned. "That's not smart, y'know. At all. He's got a lot of money and a lot of influence in this town. If he had found you… well, let's just say you're lucky it was just me."

"I know it was dumb, and I know it was wrong. I didn't want to do it, but I had to."

She narrowed her eyes at me, and I could tell she was engaging the infamous Swan lie detector. "Why? What were you looking to take? Money?"

"No," I shook my head. "It wasn't money. I thought he had something that I need. Something important. I was wrong, though. It wasn't there."

"What was it?" Her head tilted to the side, brow knit. I knew that look. Hell, I inherited that look. It was the one she used when she interrogated criminals. Also, coincidentally, it was the one we both used on each other when we were wrapped up in one of our secret, late-night poker games. Which, of course, was only kept a secret from Mom.

I paused, choosing my words carefully to avoid being caught in a lie. "It's something I need to… to get back to my home. Something very important to me. It's the only thing that can take me to my family."

I thought she would press the issue more. Grill me on what I was after specifically. She didn't, though. Instead, she sighed, shoulders sagging, and her lips pulled down sadly. I saw it again in her eyes then. The flicker of familiarity. Though she had tried to deny it to herself and everyone else, Ma knew she was still searching for the very same thing herself.

"Look, kid, I can understand wanting a family," she said softly. "I totally get that. I was an orphan, too. I went through the foster system as a kid, and it was a living hell. And, like you, I ran away. Listen to me. I spent a long time hoping for a family to come for me. Doing everything I could to try and be good enough to get one." She looked at me with sincere eyes. "It doesn't work like that. You can't make them come back to you. I know it hurts, and it sucks, but you can't make people love or want you. It's fucked up that you should have to feel like you do. You have to love yourself. Understand?" I nodded, tears prickling my eyes. Not for myself but for her. I'd known Ma had a shitty childhood. That was one reason why she had always so intent on giving me the best one possible. Of making sure I knew I was loved. Still, seeing it right in front of me like that, raw and laid bare in a way that was so unlike her even in my world, it hurt. "Don't make the same mistakes I did at your age. No matter what you come from, you can make something out of yourself. You can give yourself the life you deserve. You're worth it, Ava."

I smiled thinly through the moisture I tried to keep barred in my eyes. "T-Thanks."

"You're welcome," she shrugged, switching back to her casual self in the blink of an eye, and nodded to the doughnut in front of me. "Eat. I can hear your stomach growling from here."

Blinking away the tears, I reached out to tear a piece of the bear claw off.

"Hey, whoa. Stop." Her eyes were glued to my hand, and I looked down curiously. The scarf that I'd wrapped around it, initially green, was now soaked red. I couldn't feel any pain or much of anything at all in it, which I deduced was probably not a good thing. "What the hell did you do to yourself?"

"Might have caught some glass when I broke into the pawn shop," I frowned.

"Christ, kid. Let me see." I laid my hand down on the desk, and she leaned forward to inspect it. Reaching out, she unwound the scarf. We both winced at the sight of ripped flesh and pooling blood. "Damn. You shredded it good, didn't you?"

"Didn't think it was that bad," I mumbled. She sifted through her desk drawers a moment.

"Damn it, where did I put that first aid kit?"

"Second drawer on the left." The words barged out of my mouth before I could stop them, and I froze. Ma looked at me suspiciously. Reaching down, she opened the drawer I said and lifted the kit with inquisitive eyes boring into me. "It's, um… Good guess, huh?" I tried a smile.

She cocked an eyebrow at me. "Hell of a good one." I was afraid she would demand to know how I'd known that, but she chose to focus on the more pressing issue at hand. Namely, _my_ hand. She busied herself with tending to it. Extracting a pair of tweezers from the kit, she glanced up at me.

"Sorry to tell you, but this is going to hurt like a bitch."

"Yeah, I figured. Just do it. I'm tough."

"Alright." Leaning forward, she grasped a large shard of glass protruding from my palm with the tweezers and pulled it out slowly as to not worsen the bleeding or tear anymore skin or tendons on the way out. I squeezed my eyes closed and clenched my jaw at the responding pain. When she got the piece out, she laid it on a napkin.

"You good?" she asked me.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Keep going."

It was a long and laborious task to remove all the glass. Ma was careful and attentive, getting every single shard, even the tiny ones that were barely visible. The skin, already raw and slashed, ached and burned with every movement, but she checked in on me every second. Soothing me. That kept me calm and quiet. Until, of course, she got to the last one.

"This one looks big," she said as she prodded it gently with the tweezers. "But it's the last one."

"Do it," I urged. "I'm ready."

"Okay. One… two… three." She lifted the glass out of the skin carefully. I gritted my teeth to try and keep a shout inside. She pulled and pulled, and the glass just kept coming. I forced myself not to move and bit on the knuckle of my free hand. The last thing we wanted we for the glass to break to break while still buried in my palm from me jerking around.

Finally, she removed the piece fully, and I relaxed, slumping back in the chair.

"That one was deep," I gasped as she pressed the towel against my hand to clean the blood. "Jesus, that hurt."

"Maybe that will teach you to not break and enter," she chastised with a smirk, and I smiled exhaustively back at her.

"Trust me. I have no plans of doing that again anytime soon."

Lifting the towel, she examined my hand with a frown. "Bad news. These are some deep cuts, and I can't close them myself. You're going to need stitches."

"What? No. I'll be fine with just a band aid."

"No, you won't, Ava. You need stitches, or this hand isn't going heal." She stood. "I'm taking you to the emergency room."

I shook my head. "No, don't. Please. I'm fine. I don't want to go to the hospital."

She gave me a pointed look. "And I didn't want to spend my night pulling glass out of some kid's hand, but here we are. We're going, and that's final."

I knew she didn't realize that she was using her very best mom-tone on me, but I did. That was what pushed me along with her out the door and into the car. As I rode to my least favorite place with a throbbing hand with Ma lecturing me about "pulling stupid stunts" and nearly killing myself, I found myself smiling slightly. This felt an awful lot like home.


	5. Chapter 5

I sat on the examining table in the hospital room, wincing at the pain coursing from my hand up my arm to my shoulder. Ma sat in the chair in the corner, elbows resting on parted knees and eyes on the flimsy bandage that a nurse had placed on my hand until the stitches could be administered. She seemed calm as could be while I was a nervous wreck. My legs wouldn't stop bouncing, and I was shivering uncontrollably. The look on my face was one of abject horror as we waited for my own personal nightmare to come in the door.

"What's up with you?" Ma questioned, and I looked over at her. "Why are you freaking out? It's just stitches. You scared of needles?"

"No. I mean, maybe a little. Who isn't?" I sighed. "I just really don't like hospitals."

"Why not?"

"Bad juju."

"Care to explain further?"

"Something that happened when I was little. I—"

"Does anyone want to tell me what the hell is going on?" Both our heads snapped up at attention as Mom entered the room like she owned the place. Which, to be fair, she pretty much did. Her arms were crossed, and her eyebrows raised. Ma was on her feet in an instant, expression dark. It was a look I'd never seen her give my mom, and it pulled a frown out of me. I had to remind myself that this wasn't my world. Things were different here. That didn't mean they were like that back home.

"Madame Mayor," she said. "What are you doing here?"

"I got a call from Gold that someone had broken into his shop, and the sheriff wasn't answering his calls. I followed the trail here." She noticed me for the first time, and her eyes fell to my hand. She gasped. "What happened to you?"

"There is a chance that I might have maybe… been the one to break into Gold's shop." I said it fast and ended the confession with a big, innocent smile as I always did when coming clean to my parents.

Mom's face shifted from concern to anger to disappointment in under a few seconds. " _What?_ Why would you do that? You're smarter than that."

Ma frowned. "You two know each other?"

"We met briefly today," Mom said with a wave of her hand. "You aren't the only one capable of reading people, Miss Swan." She turned back to me with sharp eyes, demanding an explanation. "Well. I'm waiting."

"I was looking for something," I mumbled, head lowering. "Something important. I didn't find it, and I didn't take anything. I swear."

"Look at what you did to your hand." She reached out and touched my palm gently, and I flinched at the searing pain that shot up my whole arm. "Where is your mother? Why isn't she here with you?"

"Regina." Ma's voice was low, and she shook her head with somber eyes when Mom looked at her. Mom seemed to get the message because she pursed her lips and asked no more questions.

"Alright. Who's ready to get sewn up?" Dr. Whale walked in with a needle and a smile that would've been more comforting if he wasn't holding such a sharp object.

I grimaced distastefully. "Nice entrance, Patch Adams."

Ma snorted with laughter while Mom dropped her head to hide her own chuckles.

Whale frowned. "Hey, kid. Don't take it out on me. You're the one who busted your hand. Not me."

"Sorry. My instinctual coping method is deflected sarcasm."

He reached out and examined my hand closely. "These are some nasty gashes, Miss Swift. Very deep, very close to the bone. I won't lie to you—the numbing is going to hurt."

I eyed him sharply. "You skipped the day when they taught bedside manner in med school, didn't you?" He glared at me. "Sorry, Doc. Coping method again. I can't really control it. Just do it fast, please."

"I'll do my best, but it will take more than one stick to numb the whole area." He wiped my hand with a wet cloth, cleaning it off, and I clenched my jaw at how it burned. "How'd you manage to mess yourself up so bad anyway?"

"Tripped on my way to church." He looked at me exasperatedly. "I told you, I can't control it. I won't apologize again—you're just going to have to just expect it at this point."

He held up the needle, and I paled. "Are you ready?"

My voice shook. "Not at all but do it anyway."

He pulled a stool up in front of me and sat down, needle poised and ready. "Okay. Here we go. Deep breaths. Get ready. Almost there."

"Will you just do it already?" Mom snapped irritably before I could. Whale jumped slightly.

"Sorry." Without another word or warning, he plunged the needle into my hand. I sucked in a deep breath, tears rushing in my eyes, and barely stifled a scream into a whimper. I closed my eyes, teeth clenched, as the medicine was pushed down into my wound. Even after he pulled the needle out, it continued to burn. "Alright. One more, and we should be okay. Ready?" I didn't trust myself to speak or open my eyes, so I just nodded. I didn't see the needle enter again, but I felt the stab all the way down to the bone. This time, I couldn't stop myself. A cry wrenched itself out of my mouth as tears streamed down my cheeks.

Two hands fell on me. One on my shoulder and another on my forearm. Prying my eyes open, I saw both of my mothers standing by my side, holding to me with clear worry on their faces. I'd seen those expressions before. Every scrape, bruise, and cut I'd ever had. Every accident. Every tear. They'd looked at me with those same sad eyes. Like it hurt them just as much or more than it did me. And just like every time before, their touch, their presence alone, soothed me.

"Okay. All done." My hand burned a bit longer before that changed to tingling. Eventually, it numbed completely. "Now comes the fun part."

"Sadist," I huffed out, wiping the tears from my eyes. For a moment, my mothers kept their eyes and hands on me. Then, they blinked, realized what they were doing, and drew back. Glancing at each other uncertainly, confused as to why they had reacted so strongly, they stepped back.

"Are you okay?" Mom finally spoke up. I looked at them a moment before dropping my eyes to where Whale was stitching my wounds closed. I flinched even though I felt no pain.

"Dr. Frankenstein here has a needle in my hand," I said, and he shot me a pointed glare. "Got to say, I've been better before."

"Stop complaining and hold still," he said back in irritation, and I smirked slightly.

"Getting under your skin, huh, Doc?" I watched him delve the needle into my skin again.

"Ironic choice of words, Miss Swift." He tried to keep serious, but I caught a small smile on his lips.

"Ah, the surgeon has a sense of humor after all." I leaned back against the wall and let my head fall back against it, staring up at the flickering fluorescent lights.

"Ava!" I jolted upright and cursed when Whale's needle stuck into my wrist. Looking up, I saw Neal racing towards me, eyes wide with concern, and Gran following behind him just as worried. Shit. Of course, he went to her for help. He was scared.

"Neal," I said with a sigh. From the corner, Ma mumbled "Neal?"

"Ava, I was so—" He caught one look at the needle still in my wrist, the blood streaming from the puncture, and the nasty black wires in my hand and fainted immediately. Thankfully, Gran was only a step behind him, and he fell directly into her arms.

"Whoa," she breathed, holding him up. She looked from me to Mom to Ma. "What's going on here?"

"I was about to ask the same thing," Mom furrowed her brow.

"I don't care what is going on with that kid," Whale growled. "I'm halfway through stitching this one's hand. Everyone needs to calm down and shut up, so I can focus on this." Mom cocked an eyebrow at him, but he didn't shrivel as most would have. "Respectfully, of course." He pressed a bandage to the perforation on my wrist and continued with the stitches.

"Neal showed up on my doorstep," Gram explained as a team of nurses loaded Neal onto a gurney. They checked to make sure his vitals were fine, which they were, and let him sleep it off. "He was crying. He said Ava was in trouble. Something about the Sheriff. So, we went to the station, but no one was there. He made me drive around town looking for you. We saw the squad car parked out front and figured it out from there." She looked at my hand. "What happened?"

"I got hurt," I said lamely.

"I found her," Ma inserted.

Gran looked to Mom, who just shrugged. "I'm just… here."

"Oh, you poor thing." Gran wrapped her arms around my neck, earning an annoyed look from Whale that she ignored. Exhaling at her warmth, I leaned my head on her shoulder and relaxed into the embrace. A smile formed on my lips. It seemed that it didn't matter what world I was in—Gran would still be Gran. Thank God someone was normal. "Are you okay?"

"I'm better now," I sighed. Pulling back, she touched my cheek gingerly with a smile.

"There." Whale sat up. "Despite everyone apparently being dead set against it, I've finished." He removed his latex gloves with a sigh. "Twenty stitches total. It's going to be sore for a while. Try not to use that hand if you can help it. Too much motion will open those back up, and it'll hurt even worse. Come back in a week, and they should be good to remove."

I looked down at the nasty-looking stitches and the skin that was already bruising. "Uh… thanks?"

He rolled his eyes and walked away. "I get no respect here."

"You get the respect you demand," Mom threw back at him, and I grinned over at her. She offered back a sly smile and wink.

"Well, this has been the longest night of my life," I sighed, flexing my fingers experimentally.

"You and me both, kid," Ma agreed. "How about you stop doing that before you open those things up? I'd rather not have to go through this again."

I smiled sheepishly, shrinking a bit. "Yeah. Sorry." A loud snore sounded, and we all looked over to where Neal lay asleep on the gurney still. I laughed. "What an embarrassment."

Ma stepped up to me, and my smile fell at her serious expression. "Be honest with me, Ava. Do you have somewhere to sleep tonight?"

My chin dipped slightly, eyes breaking from hers. "Well… not exactly, no."

"What?" Gran frowned. "What about your mom? You said earlier…"

"So, you need somewhere to stay," Ma cut her off quickly.

"Both of us do, yeah." I nodded over to Neal.

"Well, we can take you in," Gran volunteered, and we all looked at her. "What? They need somewhere to stay. We've got some extra room." She looked down at Neal, and I understood the longing in her eyes even if she didn't. "Besides, I think he'd feel comfortable. He seems to have taken a liking to me for… whatever reason." There was a warmth in her voice that made me smile slightly.

"It's decided then," Ma nodded. "You can stay with us."

"Why not with me?" Mom interjected, and Gran and Ma's jaws fell open. I, however, beamed at her. "What?"

"Y-You want them to stay with you?" Ma choked out.

"Is that so shocking?"

"Well, you don't like… people. So, yeah."

Mom scowled at her. "I don't like you, Miss Swan." She looked at me. "I do like her, however."

Gran moved slightly closer to where Neal slept, and the panic was clear on her face. "I'd rather have them with us."

"Don't trust me with children, Miss Blanchard?"

Ma snorted. "You can't blame her, can you?"

"I have an excellent record with children, Miss Swan. I have been raising Henry for eleven years. More than I can say for you."

"Hey, that's not—"

"How about this?" I posed, and they looked at me. "Neal obviously has formed an… an attachment to Mary Margaret. He should stay with her." I chewed on my lower lip. "I… I think I'd like to stay with Regina."

"Really?" Ma looked at me like I was crazy. "You'd be okay with separating from him?"

I smiled. "I know he'll be fine with you two. I-I'd really like to stay with Regina tonight." I looked at Mom. "If that's alright."

"Of course," she said to me gingerly. There was surprise in her eyes as well, as if she couldn't believe someone would want to be with her by their own choice. However, it was quickly replaced with happiness. "You're more than welcome. Henry will be thrilled for the company."

"Good." I looked back to a still-uncertain Ma and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll be fine."

"You're sure about this?"

I nodded. "Positive." I bit the inside of my cheek. "Y'know, if you're so worried, you could stay, too." Her eyes widened, and Mom let out a strangled cough from her side.

"I think not," she finally managed to say. I shrugged, pushing off the table and stretching.

"Worth a shot," I mumbled.

"Come, dear." Mom's arm slipped naturally around my shoulders, and I had to restrain myself from leaning into her. Too much too soon could ruin everything. "Let's go."


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: Just wanted to say a quick thank you to you all for reading and responding to this story! It means a lot to read your reviews and get feedback._

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As soon as I stepped inside the mansion, the tension inside my body released. I stood in the foyer with a smile on my face, hands hugging my waist. This was what home felt like. Sure, the decorations were a little different, and it was a lot quieter than it ever was back in my world. But it was still home to me.

"What are you smiling about?" I looked up to see Mom eyeing me with a smirk.

"Nothing," I said back. "You just have a really nice home."

"Thank you, dear." A blonde woman walked in from the den, and I frowned slightly at the sight of her. Who was she? Her blue eyes bulged at me.

"Uh, Regina?" she said, and Mom turned to her. "Everything… alright?"

"Fine, Kathryn," she nodded. "Thank you for watching Henry on such short notice. I appreciate it. I assume he's already in bed?"

"Yeah, he laid down a few hours ago." She stood there for a moment, looking from Regina to me as if expecting an explanation or at least an introduction. She got neither.

"Have a good night, Kathryn." The dismissal was short and curt from Mom.

The woman blinked and moved towards the door, collecting her coat and purse from the hanger. "Of course. Goodnight." She left in another moment, and Mom removed her coat with a sigh.

"Who was that?" I questioned.

"A friend," she answered as she walked to the kitchen. I followed her. "Kathryn Nolan."

I sputtered. "Wha—Nolan?"

"Yes."

"As in, like, David Nolan?"

"Yes, she's his wife." She looked at me with narrowed eyes. "You know him?"

"I, uh, I know of him. Not, like, personally or anything." I cleared my throat, tracing my finger on the granite top of the kitchen island. "I didn't know he was married." That was one detail to the story my grandparents had neglected to tell.

She smirked, pouring out two glasses of water. "Don't tell me you've got a crush on Mr. Nolan?"

I screwed my face up in disgust. "Ew. No. Gross."

"Upon that, we agree." She slid the glass to me.

"Thanks." I took a sip, then placed the icy glass to my hurt hand, exhaling when it relieved the burning ache there.

"It doesn't hurt too terrible?" she asked, brow furrowed.

"Not bad. The numbing is wearing off, and it's just making itself known. Nothing I can't handle."

"Good. Now, tell me something, dear." I nodded. "Why did you lie to me about your mother when we first met?"

I frowned, rubbing the back of my neck. "Technically, I didn't lie."

"You led me to believe she was present in your life."

"She is. I mean, she…" I sighed frustratedly. "It's really complicated."

"You don't have to tell me about her. I only wanted to know why you lied to me initially."

"It's hard. Really hard." I looked up at her. "My mom… you remind me a lot of her." Shock crossed her features. Clearly, she wasn't expecting that. "Like, a lot. And seeing you—it made it like she was here again. With me." I smiled the best I could, forcing it past the pain rippling in my chest. "It's really nice."

"So, that's why you wanted to stay with me tonight?" She tried to hide her disappointment, but I saw it written all over her face.

"Partially, yeah. But also, I like you." Again, she was stunned. "I feel comfortable around you. Safe."

She was quiet a moment, breathing hard and blinking the glimmer in her eyes away. When she spoke finally, her voice was heavy. "T-Thank you. For saying that. It has been a very long time since someone has said that to me. Most people try to avoid me." She chuckled bitterly. "My own son thinks of me as the villain."

I smiled back at her. "Henry will come around eventually. He loves you."

"How do you know that?"

I shrugged. "I just do. Trust me."

Again, she was quiet as she stared at me intensely. "You were very scared in the hospital earlier. Was it just the needle or something more?"

I frowned before finally propping my leg against the wall and rolling my left pant leg up. She gasped at the long scar running from my knee up my thigh. "I was ten. It was summer break, and I wanted to go over to a friends' house for the day and play. My moms—" she didn't even blink at the plural— "were both working. I called Ma. She said ask Mom. I did, and she said it was fine. So, I got on my bike. Started riding down the street." I swallowed. "I didn't even hear the car come up behind me." Mom covered her mouth in horror. "The police said he hit me at forty-five miles per hour. He was reaching for his phone that fell under the seat and didn't see me." I rubbed my nose. "There were a lot of injuries. Some head trauma. Blood loss. The worst was my leg, though. My femur was shattered. It's a miracle that I can walk at all." I omitted the part where it had been my mothers' combined magic that had kept me from losing the leg entirely. "It took months and months of physical therapy. I lived in the hospital for a long time, but that wasn't the worst part of it. My moms were furious at each other. They fought and fought, blaming each other. Really, though, they only blamed themselves, and they didn't know how to handle that. So, they deflected. I was terrified they might separate. They didn't, though. My leg healed, and so did their relationship." I smiled. "Nothing can break True Love."

Her eyes sad when she whispered, "If only that were true."

I paused, dropping my leg and shimmying my pants back down. "Y'know, sometimes love doesn't come the way you expect it to." She frowned curiously at me. "Sometimes, it's the very last person you think it could possibly be. Usually, it surprises you. But you have to be open to it. You have to put yourself on the line and risk getting hurt. It's scary, but it's also totally worth it."

She smiled at me. "How are you so young yet so wise?"

I shrugged. "Some people are born with it, I suppose."

She laughed. "Perhaps you're right. Come. It's late, and I can see your eyelids drooping." She placed a hand on the small of my back and led me up the stairs to the guest bedroom that, in my world, was my very own. "Is it suitable?"

"It's great. Thank you again for letting me stay tonight, Regina."

"It's a pleasure to have you, dear." For a moment, she stood there, hand still on my back, and she seemed uncertain. Her head tilted forward as if she might kiss me, but she froze. I could see the questions in her eyes. Was it okay? Would I run scared? Why did she feel so compelled to do it anyway? Smiling, I leaned in the rest of the way, pressing my forehead against her lips. Her hand fell on my head, combing through my hair gently. "Sleep well, Ava."

"You, too." She finally left the room, and I smiled to myself. Collapsing on the bed, I dove into sleep wholeheartedly, certain my dreams would be nothing but pleasant.


	7. Chapter 7

When my eyes opened, I was surprised by daylight streaming in through the window. Was it really morning already? It felt like I had slept no time at all. Sitting up, I stretched my arms out over my head and threw my covers off. Standing, I walked to my vanity mirror and checked my reflection a moment. I was nearly to the door when I stopped dead in my tracks. Looking around, I took in the collection of polaroid pictures plastered on the wall near the bed. The gray-and-white pinstripe comforter. The extra-warm quilt that I refused to admit I kept because Gran made it for me when I was a baby. The hammock chair hanging from the rafter. The books and CDs stacked neatly on the shelf.

Those were _my_ things. My personal belongings. They belonged in my room. When I laid down that night, that room was empty except for the bed and the furniture.

"What the hell?" I muttered, brow knit.

Voices carried from downstairs, loud and angry, and I pushed my door open. As I made my way down the stairs, the voices grew louder and louder. When I got to the bottom stair, I peered around curiously.

"How could this have happened?"

My ma streaked past me, pacing back and forth in the foyer. Her hands were on her hips, her blonde hair pulled back, and her face was a mask of worry. Mom emerged from the living room, one hand covering her mouth and the other wrapped over her stomach. Her eyes were red-rimmed. It only took one look for me to know this wasn't Regina and Emma. These were my moms.

"I don't know," she whispered. "I don't understand any of this. What… What could have happened?"

"Guys," I smiled widely at them. "Hey, I'm right here!" They didn't even look up, and I frowned. "Hello? Anyone listening to me?"

"God, where could they have gone?" Ma rubbed her forehead. "Anything could happen…"

"I'm literally standing right in front of you." I stepped off the stairs in front of her. "Yoo-hoo!" Ma lifted her head, and she stared dead at me. No, not at me. Through me. Then, she walked straight through me. I gasped as my body dissipated, fading before rematerializing.

"Oh my God," I breathed, eyes wide as I looked myself over. "Oh my God. What the hell is this?"

"They must be in town somewhere." Gran appeared as well through the foyer, Gramps close behind her. Just like Ma and Mom, they were the picture of anxiety. Gran had clearly been crying, and Gramps had his eyebrow pinched, his eyes exhausted. "We must have missed somewhere. Where would two fourteen-year-olds go?"

"Mom, we looked everywhere." Ma shook her head. "Dad and I tore the whole town apart. They're not here. Nobody's seen them. Not since they left home for school."

"I think we need to consider a possibility we all want to avoid," Gramps said, and they all looked at him. "Maybe they're not just lost. Maybe they ran away."

"No." Ma and Mom both said it immediately.

"Ava wouldn't run away," Mom said confidently.

"Regina, I know you don't want to think about it," Gran sighed. "Neither do we. There were no signs pointing to it in her or Neal. But I've been working with kids long enough to know that sometimes they don't show when they're unhappy. You never thought Henry would have run away before, either, but he did. More than once."

"This is different," Mom growled back at her. "I know my daughter. She didn't run away. Something else happened. I don't know what, but I know that, wherever they are, Ava and Neal didn't go by choice." She looked so certain of it, but behind that certainty was something else. An insecurity. I knew my mom well enough to know exactly what was running through her mind. All the what if's. She was thinking back, trying to imagine if she'd done anything wrong to make me leave. If she'd missed a signal that would point to this. It made my heart ache that I couldn't tell her that there were no signals. That she'd done nothing wrong. That this was no one's fault but my own for opening that stupid book in the first place. I just wanted to hug her. To hug them all. But when I tried to reach out to her, my hand disappeared like smoke against her shoulder, and she didn't even blink an eye.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, tears burning my eyes. "I'm so sorry for this. I'm going to make it right. I'm going to come back home. I promise. I love you."

I bolted out of bed, eyes wide and chest rolling with panting breaths. One look at the plain, barren room around me told me that I was back in the world I'd gone to sleep in. Closing my eyes, I struggled to calm down.

The sound of slightly raised voices below caught my attention, and my eyes snapped back open. Not again. Please, not again.

Standing and pulling my hair up out of my face, I padded barefoot out into the hall for the stairs. The voices were clearer now, and I frowned to myself. No doubt about it. That was my parents. I groaned.

"Yeah, they do this a lot." Jumping, I turned to see Henry standing behind me, already dressed for the day. He looked at me with a frown. "Mom and Emma can't do anything good together except fight."

I smirked at him. "Yeah, I've noticed." My stomach let out a ravenous growl. "Think we should risk entering the war zone for some breakfast?"

He smiled. "Absolutely. Mom makes pancakes whenever I have friends over." His expression dimmed slightly. "Doesn't happen very often."

Looping my arm around his shoulder, I walked with him downstairs. "Don't sweat it, dude. Give it a little time, and I know you'll have loads of friends."

He looked at me brightly. "Really?"

"Absolutely. You already have one in me."

He dropped his head an inch, an ear-to-ear grin on his face as he murmured, "Thanks."

It was so odd seeing Henry like that. Not just so young but so shy, too. As an adult back home, he was so much more confident. So sure of himself. He was always the big brother comforting me when I was awkward or worried. It felt kind of nice to repay the favor now.

We got to the bottom of the stairs and peeked into the kitchen. Mom and Ma stood with the island between them, their faces expressing nothing but rage. If the island wasn't there, I had a feeling that Ma would've tackled Mom already. It was unsettling to see them look at each other like that. I'd witnessed my parents fight plenty of times before, but it had never been like this. There was still love between them back home. This was primal. Hate. I didn't like it.

"You couldn't have waited to show up after breakfast?" Mom taunted, hands on her hips. "Now I've lost my appetite."

"I wanted to check on the kid," Ma spat back. "Make sure she was okay."

"Afraid I might poison her?" Mom said, narrowing her eyes. "I'm not sure when you think you became parent-of-the-year, Miss Swan, but I have much more experience at caring for children than you." Her lips tilted in a venomous smirk. "I'm not the one who gave their child up after all."

My grip on Henry tightened as his shoulders sagged, and Ma physically tensed. I thought for sure she was going to deck Mom for such a low blow, but instead she just grabbed hold of the countertop in front of her and gripping it for dear life. My brow knit. She was restraining herself? Weird. Ma was known for a lot of things, but self-control wasn't one.

"You listen to me, you selfish, vapid—"

"Hey!" I called out, and Ma spun on her heels, eyes wide. Mom's mouth fell open as she looked at me and Henry, who looked like he'd love nothing more than to shrink into oblivion.

"Henry," Mom breathed, her expression pained and filled with regret. Ma just stared at us with bulging eyes. The tension was thick enough to choke on. Somebody had to break it.

I covered Henry's ears with my hands loosely. "Easy with the language there, guys. There are children present."

With a playful giggle, he shoved my hands away, and I grinned. "I'm not a child."

"Yeah, sure. I believe you." I gave him an exaggerated wink, and he pushed me gently.

My mom's both breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed, and there was nothing but gratitude on their faces when I looked back at them.

"Well, you two seem to be getting along swimmingly," Mom noted with a smile. Her eyes caught mine. "Did you sleep well?"

I chewed on my lip. "Yeah. I slept like a baby."

"Lie," Ma declared. Damn human lie detector.

I sighed. "I slept fine. Just had a weird dream, that's all." Wandering further into the kitchen, I peered at the griddle on the counter. "Is that breakfast?"

"Apple-cinnamon pancakes," Mom informed me. "My specialty."

I pumped my fist. "Oh, yes." She didn't know it, but I'd had her pancakes a million times before, and they were my favorite.

I paused before looking at Ma slyly. "I'm assuming you'll be joining us?"

Her mouth flopped open and closed a few times before she finally found her voice. "Uh, I don't think so. I was just checking to make sure you were good."

"Well, I am," I said. "Really good. And since you're here, you might as well stay and eat breakfast. If that's okay with Regina and Henry, of course."

Henry piped up from the across the island. "Yep!"

I looked at Mom with a big smile. "Can't send the Sheriff to work on an empty stomach, can you, Madame Mayor?"

Ma spoke up. "It's fine. I can just get something quick from—"

"Why don't you stay and eat, Miss Swan?" Mom stopped her and shocked both Ma and Henry. Not me, though. I knew I'd seen the look she'd had on her face when she and Ma were fighting. There may have been anger and loathing, but there was also a glimmer that came in her eyes whenever she and Ma were being gross-in-love back in my world. It was definitely a stranger relationship than I was used to between them, but there was still, even in this world, an attraction. Disgusting but also good.

"Seriously?" Ma asked her with raised eyebrows.

I grinned at her. "You can't turn down an invitation from the Mayor, can you, Sheriff Swan?"

She cut her eyes at me. "You're going to be trouble, aren't you?" I beamed, and she sighed. "Okay, sure. I'll stay. Only because those pancakes smell great."

"Awesome!" I said. "I'll make the hot cocoa and coffee."

I moved around the kitchen expertly, retrieving the cocoa mix and coffee can from the pantry. As I turned the pot on and started to make the cocoa, I caught glimpse of all their eyes trained on me questioningly. That was when I realized my mistake. Quick as I could, I thought up an excuse.

"Oh, um, I may have gotten up last night for a midnight snack and done a little exploring." It was lame even to me, but it was the most believable thing I could think of. "Sorry."

"It's fine, dear," Mom finally smiled. "Thank you for helping—I appreciate it."

"You're welcome." While she may have been placated by the lie, Ma still had her eyes narrowed at me suspiciously.

I turned my back and focused on the cocoa to escape her gaze. "How did Neal do last night?"

"He was fine," she answered. "He woke up on the drive to the apartment, but he saw Mary Margaret, and he was okay. He was still asleep whenever I left this morning."

"Yeah, he's a late sleeper. Didn't keep you up with his snoring, did he?"

She chuckled. "Not too much, no."

I finished the three cups of cocoa off with a generous sprinkling of cinnamon for each and delivered them to their owners. Then, I poured out a cup of black coffee and gave it to Mom.

"You seem like you take it strong," I told her. From the corner, Ma snorted out loud. Making eye contact, both our faces brightened.

"That's what she said!" We rang out together, pointing our fingers at each other and rolling with laughter. It felt so wonderfully normal that I almost forgot where I was.

"Children come now." Mom tried to scoff, but she couldn't hide a slight smirk.

"Who's she?" Henry inquired as he set the dining room table for breakfast.

"Nobody," I assured him. "It's a really dumb joke that you do not even want to understand." Mom plated the pancakes, and I carried them to the table. Henry looked annoyed at being left out of the loop, so I leaned forward and mouthed, "It's a sex thing."

His ears burned. "Oh." Then, his eyes widened as the context of the joke set in. " _Oh_. Ew. Gross."

"But funny," I added, and he grinned.

"You guys have made really fast friends," Ma remarked as she and Mom joined us at the table. "Like, really fast."

"It's kind of weird," Henry mused. "I feel almost like I've met you before. When I saw you and your brother yesterday, I got this weird sense of déjà vu."

"Y'know, I sort of felt that, too." It took everything in me to hide my knowing smile. "Like a separated-at-birth kind of thing."

His eyes widened. "Maybe we're, like, long-lost siblings or something."

Ma coughed over her cocoa. "No. Nope. Definitely not. I distinctly remember only ever having one child."

Henry reached for the syrup absently. "You only had one kid, but maybe my father…"

He stopped himself, eyes wide at the slip, as the entire room tensed again. Ma's eyes were dark and glued to the table while Mom busied herself with her pancakes awkwardly. I sat among them, chewing on my bottom lip. I had been told all about Henry's dad, Neal. Like how he was Rumpelstiltskin's long-lost son. How he set my mom up to take the fall for a theft he committed at the bidding of Pinocchio. How he came back and redeemed himself to my mother just before his death. But he hadn't done any of that in this world. Not yet anyway. As far as Ma knew, he was just some jerk who abandoned her like everyone else in her life.

"I have a great idea," I stated, and they looked over at me. "Let's change the subject. How about them Sox, hm?"

Ma squinted. "Red or White?"

"What kind of a question is that? Red, of course."

A grin broke out across her face. "You're alright, Ava."

I smiled and grabbed my fork, forgetting entirely about the stitches in my hand.

"Ah!" I hissed, the fork clattering down on my plate from my throbbing hand. Examining my palm, I grimaced. Even uglier than it was last night.

The sounds of chairs scraping against the floor rang out as Mom and Ma both jumped to their feet in concern.

"Are you okay?" Mom demanded.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I flexed my fingers and cringed at the soreness. "Just forgot."

"Look at it this way," Henry said. "You'll have a really cool battle scar when it heals. You should tell people you got it fighting a monster. Something cool like that."

"Good advice. I'll remember that. Fighting a monster is a much better story than how it really happened."

"How did it happen anyway?" he asked, and I frowned.

"She was doing something very foolish," Mom supplied. "Let that be a lesson to you both: if you do something you know is wrong, you will pay for it in some way."

"Karma," Ma nodded in agreement. "Gets you every time."

"Learned that the hard way," I muttered.

There was a knock at the door, and Mom stood. "Who could that be?"

She walked to answer it while I struggled to hold my fork and stab a piece of pancake, scowling in frustration. Ma smirked at me while Henry chuckled.

"What in the—" Before Mom could finish the question, she was cut off by pounding footsteps. I looked up just in time for Neal to envelope me in a massive hug.

"Ava!" he exclaimed. "Oh my God, you're alive!"

"Yeah," I said, shucking his arms off me. "I was alive last night when you saw me, too." I grinned. "Y'know, right before you fainted."

"You had a needle sticking out of your arm, and there was blood everywhere. It was gross. Don't laugh at me!"

I couldn't help chuckling. "You're such a wuss. Check this out, Henry." I held my palm up for Neal to see, and he gagged immediately. Henry laughed beside of me, and I dropped my hand.

"Well, excuse me for worrying about you," Neal scoffed sorely. "I won't make that mistake again."

"Shut up. Eat a pancake." Using my good hand, I speared a piece and held it up to him.

"No thanks. Mom—" he stopped, glancing at the others— "I mean, Mary Margaret made breakfast." He lowered his voice. "And as Snow White's son, I am smart enough not to eat anything apple made by the Evil Queen."

I popped the pancake in my own mouth. "Your loss. This is delicious."

"Well, this is… odd." We looked up to see Gran staring at us from the doorway. Mom brushed past her with an indignant huff, perching herself back in her chair at the table. "You all look like one big happy family."

"Except for Regina," Ma smirked. "She's pissed."

"Can't imagine why," Mom growled. "With strangers barging into my home as if they own the place."

"I apologized already, Regina," Gran sighed exasperatedly. "What else can I do?"

"Leave," Mom answered shortly, cutting her pancakes.

"It's my fault," Neal muttered, toeing the ground. "I made her bring me. I wanted to make sure Ava was okay."

Mom's tone immediately softened. "It's quite alright, dear. I understand your concern for your sister." She had always had a soft spot for kids. Even Snow White's. She did marry one of them after all. Or she would in the future. Or past? Or… Ugh, time travel was confusing.

I finished my breakfast and walked up to my bedroom with Neal behind me, excusing myself from the others. I closed the door behind us and faced him.

"So, something weird happened last night," I said.

"Weirder than accidentally falling through a portal into the past?" he asked me.

"I had a dream," I answered. "Except for it wasn't really a dream. It was like…" I sighed frustratedly. "I think I went back to our world while I was asleep last night."

"What?" he choked out, eyes wide. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I was back home. Here. In this room. I went downstairs, and my moms were there. And Gran and Gramps, too. They were talking about us, worried sick about where we were." I pushed my hair back from my face. "It was so weird, Neal."

"Did you tell them where we were? Are they going to get us out of here?"

"I tried to talk to them, but they couldn't see or hear me. Ma looked right at me, and she walked through me. _Through_ me, Neal. Like I was a ghost. I have no clue how or why it happened, but it did. Maybe it's my magic tapping into theirs. I don't know, but I have some sort of link to them."

"Can we strengthen it?" he questioned. "You know, so maybe you can communicate with them somehow?"

"How would we do that?"

"I don't know. You're the magic one." His face lit up suddenly. "This is just like that Patrick Swayze movie that Mom doesn't know we watched—the one where he's a ghost, and he, like, gets back in touch with Demi Moore. The one with Whoopi Goldberg." He put on his very best angry Whoopi face, eyes bulging. _"'I ain't no DAMN secretary!'"_

"I know the movie, Neal," I snapped at him. "This isn't that. Because I'm not a dead guy hung up on his ex, and you aren't my Oda Mae Brown. This real fucking life. Do you get that?" He looked hurt, but I was too upset to stop now. "I was standing right in front of them—and they couldn't see me. I yelled at them, and they didn't hear me." Tears burned my eyes. "Neal, I don't know how we're going to do this. I can't keep this up. It just gets harder and harder, and it hurts. And it's all my fucking fault we're here. I did this, and I don't know how to fix it. God, Neal, I'm so sorry I did this to us." I began to cry, and he gaped at me for a few seconds with his mouth hanging open. I couldn't blame him for being shocked. If there was one thing I never did, it was cry. But I just wanted to go home. To get back to my parents.

"Hey, Ava, it's okay." His arms wrapped slowly and awkwardly around me, and he patted my back uncertainly. "We're going to figure this out. And it isn't your fault. Neither of us knew what that book would do. We're going to get back home. We just have to find the book and undo all this."

"What if we can't? What if we're stuck here forever?"

"We won't be. Even if we can't figure this out, I guarantee that our family will. They won't give up on us, Ava. We're going to get home." He smirked at me. "Trust me. Your moms will cross realms and kick ass to get us back."

I laughed through my tears. "Thanks, Neal. You really inherited the annoying 'hope' speech thing, huh?"

He smiled, dropping his arms. "You have to admit that they do come in handy. So, Chief, what do we do now?"

Setting my jaw, I felt a new determination solidified in my gut. We were going to get home. No matter what, I was going to get us back where we belonged. "We're going to find that stupid book and go home."


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: So, yeah. It's been an unforgivably long-ass time since my last update. I'm really sorry for that. It's been a crazy few months. Graduating, getting a job, family drama, moving out. I haven't had the time or the energy to write unfortunately. But I'm back now, and I've got the rest of this story planned out. The rest of the updates should be daily. I've already gotten the next five or six chapters written out. I'm not sure on the exacts, but I'm thinking there will be 12 of 13 chapters total. That is, unless the story just keeps writing itself. Thanks guys! :)_

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Neal and I sat under the cover of the playground castle out in front of the beach, camped out in the tower across from each other.

"We need a plan," I said. "We went in Gold's shop headfirst, and we got caught. That can't happen twice. I'm confident that the book must be in Mom's vault since it wasn't with Gold, but that doesn't mean this will be easy. Breaking into her sanctuary will be a pain in the ass. No doubt she's got the place protected tight. Magic may be limited here, but it isn't completely gone. If I know her at all, she's probably got the place locked up with some blood magic. The good news is I can get by that. The bad news is I might not be able to get past any other magical barriers. I could set off an alarm or something without even realizing it."

"We need some kind of idea of what she's protected the place with," Neal nodded in agreement. "Unfortunately, the only person who knows that isn't going to just dish out all her secrets. As far as she's concerned, we have no clue about the curse. If she gets any kind of idea that we know, who knows what might happen?"

"Exactly." I rubbed my chin, legs folded underneath me. "You gave me a bit of an idea earlier, Neal. What you said about strengthening the connection when I'm in the other world. I think the only way for me to do that is to go further into this other world." My eyes were dark. "To fall into the deepest sleep possible."

"You're talking about a sleeping curse?" Neal's eyes widened when I nodded. If there was one thing he'd learned a lot about, more out of a need for self-preservation than real interest, it was sleeping curses. With how many times his parents had gone under the curse, he wanted to be able to guard against it. Just in case. "Ava, no. That's crazy. You know how dangerous those are. How would we even get one?"

"The same way Mom got one for the apple turnover just before the curse broke," I replied. "We visit the Hatter. He's got to have something."

"And how are we supposed to wake you up afterward? We're cousins, and you're my best friend, but I'm pretty sure it isn't True Love."

"Of course, it isn't. That would just be weird. Think about it, Neal. Theoretically, if the sleeping curse strengthens my connection to the other world, I would be there in a physical as well as spiritual sense. They would be able to see, hear, and touch me."

His brow pinched. "You're saying your moms could wake you with a kiss?" I nodded. "Yeah, but, Ava, this is all theoretical. We don't know if any of it would actually work, and that's a pretty big risk."

"Yeah, but what choice do we have?" I asked, and his frown deepened. "We don't have a lot of options here, Neal. This is not our world. We've got to get out of here fast."

"You're leaving?"

We both looked over to see a wide-eyed and clearly devastated Henry. Hazel eyes were trained on me, and they held big, watery tears. My heart dropped at the look of betrayal and hurt on his face.

"Henry," I gasped.

"You can't leave," he insisted. "You can't! Things are so much better since you came here. Mom and Emma are finally getting along because of you. And you can't leave me." His bottom lip trembled. "You're supposed to be my friend."

"Henry, I'm sorry," I breathed, scrambling to my feet. I approached him, but he backed away quickly. "We are friends. Always. But I can't stay here. This isn't where I belong."

"It is! You belong here with me and my moms! You're already like family. You have to stay with us, or else things will go back to being bad."

I shook my head. "Henry, you've got to try and understand. Neal and I both have to leave this place. You don't understand it now, but you will. Later. When you're older."

His face twisted in anger. "'When I'm older'? That's what my mom and Dr. Hopper say. It's what everyone says. You're just like the rest of them. You pretend to be my friend, but you really think I'm crazy like the others do. You're a liar!"

"Henry, wait!" I called out, but he turned his back to storm off. I didn't know what to do. What to say. Part of me said to just let him walk off. To let him be hurt and angry for the greater good of things. But the other part couldn't get that look out of my head. The one that told me I'd hurt him so badly. His only friend turned her back on him just like everyone else. I couldn't live with it. I just couldn't. This was my brother, for Christ's sake. And that was what coaxed out my next statement.

"I know about the curse!"

He froze while Neal ran to my side.

"What the hell?" he hissed furiously, but I ignored him. "Ava, what are you doing?"

Henry turned slowly, and I was met with open-mouthed, shocked expression. "W-What?"

"The curse," I said again. "The one that brought everyone here to Storybrooke. The one that stole their fairytale memories away. The one you brought Emma here to break. I know about it. Operation Cobra, too. I know about all of it, Henry."

He stepped towards me uncertainly, clearly still stunned and confused. "How?"

I sighed before placing a hand on his shoulder. "That is a long story. You're going to want to sit down for this one, Hen."

One very long explanation later, the three of us sat in the castle together in silence aside from the sound of breaking waves in the distances and seagulls above. Henry had been quiet during my story, and I was afraid maybe it would be too much for him to comprehend. I was certain, however, that he would believe me. He didn't get the title of the "Truest Believer" for nothing, after all.

Henry stared down at the wood boards under us with his brow furrowed in concentration as if he were trying to solve a near-impossible math problem.

"You alright?" Neal asked, and he groaned when Henry didn't respond. "Shit, Ava. It was too much for him. He's blown a fuse."

I punched his arm. "Shut up. Let him think."

"Ow! Why are you always so violent?"

"Why are you always such a dumbass?"

"So, let me get this straight." Henry interrupted our scrap when he finally looked up at us. "You're both from another world. A future world where the curse has been broken a long time. A world where my mom and Emma are married. Neal is Snow White and Prince Charming's son." He looked at me. "You're the magically-conceived daughter of my moms. I mean, our moms. And you guys time-traveled here by accident, and now you're trying to get back to your time. Is that right?"

"Sounds like it," I nodded. "I know it's a lot to take in."

"Yeah," he said with a shrug, "but it kind of makes sense. I mean, Mom and Emma kind of hate each other, but there are times when they look like they'd rather kiss than fight. They think I don't notice, but I'm not stupid or blind. And I already knew the curse is real. Plus, you look just like them." He smiled widely. "So, this makes us all family, huh? Neal's my uncle, and you're my sister."

"Yep," Neal confirmed. "Except in our world, we're younger than you."

He narrowed his eyes. "Okay. Let me ask you something. In the future, can I grow a beard?"

I scrunched my nose. "You tried it while you were in college, and you looked like a dirty serial killer." He frowned. "So, yes, you can grow one, but you really shouldn't."

"Yeah, you looked like a hobo," Neal snorted. "Regina hated it."

"Huh," Henry mumbled. "Always thought I'd look cool with one." He blinked. "So, back to the important stuff. You guys have to get back to your world."

"You're okay with it now?" I questioned. "You're okay with us leaving?"

He smiled at me and rested his hand on mine. "Yeah, I'm okay. The future sounds really bright for me, and I don't want to screw that up by trying to keep you here now. So, I'm here to help."

Grinning, I hugged him tight. "Thanks, Hen. I knew we could count on you." We pulled apart. "Now, we need to get our hands on a sleeping curse, and I know exactly where to find that creepy Hatter."

"What makes you think Jefferson will even help us?" Neal asked. "The guy's a total headcase."

"Simple. As of right now, Jefferson is the only person besides Mom and Henry who is aware of the curse, and he wants it broken more than anyone to get his daughter back. We just have to convince him that by helping us, he sets things in motion for the curse to break. Which isn't necessarily a lie. We'll be the first people to use real magic in this world since it was made. That's bound to stir fate up."

"What about bargaining with a certifiable lunatic who, need I remind you, will in time kidnap your ma and my mother?"

I grinned. "Oh, ye of little faith. Gramps may not have passed the family charm onto you, but it certainly didn't miss me. And I've got my mom's powers of persuasion." My eyes shone excitedly. "If there is one thing I can do, it's convince people into giving me what I want. That wonky Hatter is no exception."


	9. Chapter 9

"God why does this guy have to live out in the middle of nowhere in the world's most murder-y house?" Neal grumbled as we trudged along the side of the highway. The sun had long since set, and the crickets had come out to sing. It was only me and Neal on that mission. It had taken a lot of convincing and the promise of hot cocoa later, but Henry had agreed to stay home and cover for us. As far the adults knew, we were at the library studying late for am upcoming test at a high school we didn't attend.

"I know," I sighed as we approached the enormous, seemingly abandoned mansion on the outskirts of town. "This place gives me the wigs."

"You sure about this, Ava?" Concern tagged his voice.

"Nope. I'm not sure about any of what we're doing. I'm not even sure this whole thing isn't just some big nightmare. But we have to do this, Neal."

"I know. I just hate it."

"Me, too. Now, why don't you stay out here and keep watch for me?"

His eyes bulged. "What the hell, Ava? I'm not letting you go in there alone!"

"C'mon, Neal," I said. "He's nuts, like you said. He's going to be paranoid enough with just one of us there. Two would probably send him over the edge, and the very last thing we need is for the Mad Hatter to lose his head." We stared at each other for a few seconds before our expressions cracked, and we both laughed. "Pun intended. Pun so intended."

"Good one," he said, but he was serious again in a moment. "I don't like it, Ava. He's unpredictable."

"All the more reason for me to go in alone. I'm good at lulling people into a false sense of security. I can do this, Neal." I offered him a smile. "Trust me."

He hesitated before groaning. "There's no point in arguing anyway. You're going to do what you want in the end no matter what I say."

"Very true. I'll yell if I need you."

"Fine, but if you aren't out in a half-hour, I'm coming in whether you call or not. I'm serious, Ava."

"Noted. This shouldn't take long." I rushed across the road up to the mansion, struggling to keep my heart rate calm and my breathing even. I would've been lying if I said I wasn't at least a little afraid. Back in the Enchanted Forest, Jefferson had been a good guy. A father just trying to make to make an honest living to provide for his daughter. Years spent trapped headless in Wonderland, neither dead or fully alive, had driven him insane, though. Which was caused by my mom when she was in her Evil Queen phase, as Ma and I liked to call it. So, I decided that I'd be smart not to mention whose kid I was exactly. Keep it as simple as possible without lying. Something told me a guy deranged enough to kidnap a sheriff and a schoolteacher to make a magic hat work would have no issues seeing through my lies and using me as a pawn to get revenge on the woman he hated.

I stood in front of the door for several seconds before calling up enough courage to knock. There was no response. No sounds. Nothing. Frowning, I rapped my knuckles against the wood harder. Still no answer. The third time, I all but banged my fist against the door.

"I hear you. Jesus!" The door was flung open, and there the man stood in all his demented glory. Pale blue eyes that were just a little too wide to appear entirely sane glowered at me, and wavy, brown hair stood straight up on his head. He wore a dark paisley shirt with black pants and matching shoes, and around his neck was a scarf. A scarf that I knew covered a very distinct scar. "What's all this banging? You're giving me a headache." His teeth clicked in annoyance. "What do you want?"

"You're Jefferson," I stated plainly, and he eyed me suspiciously.

"Perhaps I am," he said. "Who's asking?"

"Someone who can help you get your daughter back." His eyes nearly popped out of his head. "But first I need something from you, Hatter."

He stared at me for several long minutes, reading me for any signs of deception. When he apparently didn't find any, he opened the door wider. "Come in." I stepped inside the dark mansion and jumped a bit when the door clicked shut behind me. "Who are you?"

"My name is Ava," I answered while following him into the drawing room of the home. We sat down opposite each other, he in a winged chair and I on the sofa. A tea set was laid out on the table between us, and he poured out two cups.

"You know about the curse?" He offered me the cup, and I hesitantly took it. He caught me looking strangely at it and sighed. "Relax, I didn't poison it. I swear. What would I gain from killing you before I got my answers about my Grace?"

It did make sense, so I took a slow and hesitant sip of the tea. "Thank you."

"You didn't answer my question. You know about the curse?"

"I do."

"How did you regain your memories?"

I chewed my lip. "Well, I never really lost them. I'm not from this world. I came here by accident, and now I need to get back home."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "And how can you help me get my daughter back?"

"To get back to my world, I need a magical item from you. An apple with a deadly bite."

"You need a sleeping curse?"

"Yes. It's the only way to connect back to where I'm from and figure out how to get back. What I'm asking you to do, Jefferson, is use what magic is left in this town to help me right now."

His face was pinched. "And how does that help me get Grace back?"

I leaned forward. "Think about it. All the pieces are in place, aren't they? The Savior's in town. The curse is beginning to unravel on its own. People are remembering. The clock tower is ticking again. All this place needs is an extra push. Storybrooke is a powder keg. Magic will be the match to light to fuse and implode this curse. And when it's broken, everyone gets their memories back. Including Grace. She'll come running back to you. Her papa." His breath hitched, and the tea cup trembled in his hands. His eyes were glassy and trained on something over my shoulder, in another world altogether. "I know what it feels like to be trapped in a world where you just don't fit. Where you have to watch the people you love lead lives where you don't exist. Where you are nothing to them. Where they don't even remember you. I know how painful that is, but we can stop all this, Jefferson. We can change it. I just need your help."

He was quiet for a moment, still seemingly lost, before he blinked and focused back on me. "Alright. I'll do it."

I smiled widely. "Thank you, Jefferson."

"Don't thank me," he growled, standing to his feet. "If this doesn't work, if the curse doesn't break, I'll hunt you down and gut you. No matter what world you're in." I gulped but followed him to a room, just as well-kept as the rest of the mansion, but filled with walls and walls of hats. He breezed past them all to a desk in the middle of the room and held up a covered serving tray on the palm of his hand. Lifting the cover slowly and dramatically, he revealed a perfectly-preserved, crimson-red apple. He held the tray out towards me.

"I've been saving this for a rainy day," he said. "Take it and do whatever you must with it."

My hand quaked slightly as I reached out and took it in my hand, fingers slipping over the waxy skin. There was no need to question whether it was really magic. I could feel it. There was a heaviness to it that didn't belong to its physical weight. A dark tinge to the red color that didn't quite pass for natural. The peel seemed to crawl with the curse held under it. I looked into his eyes again, and they looked less demented than before. More focused. The mere idea of being reunited with his daughter was enough to return some of his sense. "This will work, Jefferson. I swear. The curse will break, and you'll have your daughter again."

"It had better, or it'll be your head." He meant it as a threat, but the shaking in his voice exposed his sadness. His hope that I came through.

I offered him a poor substitute for a smile. "Thank you. I won't let you down." Turning, I let myself out of the house quickly. As much sympathy as I may have felt for the man, it didn't change the fact that he was mental, and I knew it. And, no matter what, I knew there was a very high chance that house was haunted as hell. If there was one thing I didn't fuck with, it was ghosts.

"There you are!" Neal sighed when I rushed to his side. "I was just about to bust in there." Noticing how he was stealing terrified glances of the mansion, I smirked.

"Sure, you were."

"Shut up. I was." He frowned at me. "Did you get it?"

I procured the apple from my hoodie pocket, and he gawked at it. "Yeah, I got it."

"It looks almost just like a regular apple, but I can feel the bad juju under there." He shuddered, leaning away. "I hate sleeping curses."

"We all do. Now, let's get back to town. I figure we haven't got too long before our parents are sending out a search party for us. Henry can only hold the hounds off for so long." The two of us began our trek back towards town.

Neal kicked a pebble ahead of him. "Hey, Ava?"

"Yeah?"

"Aren't you scared at all about this? The curse, I mean. You've been pretty brave and all about this whole thing, but this is really dangerous."

"Of course, I'm scared," I shrugged. "I'm terrified. I mean, I'm about to go under a curse. Historically, curses and our family don't really mix well. But I have to do this, and I have to believe that it will work." I smiled at him. "Henry has always said that believing in something is what makes it true. I know that if I believe in this plan and in us, it'll work. So, yeah, I'm scared, but I'm also confident."

"Promise me something?"

"What's that?"

He was dead serious when he looked at me. "Promise me you won't leave me here by myself. I can't do this without you, Ava."

Stopping, I faced him and look in his eyes sincerely. "I swear, Neal, I won't leave you to handle this mess on your own. I'm going to be fine. Everything's going to be fine. I'm going to eat this apple and go see our family. I'm going to tell them everything that has happened. Mom will tell me how to get in the vault and which spell to use in the book. I'll wake up. We'll get the book, and we'll go home. The end."

He smiled. "Thanks, Ava." We started walking again. "For the record, I believe in you, too."

When we got back to the mansion, I let myself inside quietly with Neal behind me. Removing our coats, we started to head upstairs to begin our plan. Sounds from Mom's study, however, halted us.

"They don't have anyone, Regina." I frowned. That was my ma's voice. What was she doing here so late?

Pressing my finger to my lips to tell Neal to keep quiet, the two of us edged along the wall to the cracked-open door. I couldn't make out anything beyond the fire crackling in the hearth, but I could hear their voices clearly.

"You don't think I know that, Miss Swan?" Mom said back, but I was surprised to find that her tone lacked its usual venom. My brow furrowed. "I'm not sure what happened to their mothers, but they're clearly no longer in the picture. From what Ava has told me, they haven't been for a while."

"Someone has to take them in," Ma said. "I mean, we can't just let them wander around on the streets. Anything could happen to them."

"I agree. That's why I've already began discussing the adoption process with my lawyer. For both Ava and Neal."

My jaw dropped, and Neal and I exchanged wide-eyed looks.

"Hang on there," Ma said immediately after. "That wasn't what I had in mind."

"Oh? And what were you thinking?"

"Well, it's pretty clear that Neal has formed a bond with Mary Margaret, and she's done the same with him. She wants him, and I think it's fair to assume he'd want to stay with her as well."

"Won't it be a little cramped in that loft with all three of you?" I could practically hear the smirk in my mother's voice.

"Well, that's actually what I came to discuss with you. I've been looking at some solo apartments. Two-bedrooms. And I thought maybe Ava could stay with me there until we work things out more permanently."

There was the sound of a chair scraping against the floor, and the click-click of my mother's heels. "And what makes you think she'd want to stay with you? She chose to stay here with me." I winced. Her voice was low and gravelly. Cold and heated at the same time. That was not a good voice. "I don't know if you're trying to replace the years you've missed with Henry with her, but it won't work."

"Jesus, Regina, no!" Ma exclaimed. "I'm not trying to replace anything. I just want to do what's best for Ava. I didn't like the idea of separating her and Neal at first, but they didn't seem to really mind it last night. I just… I know where she is, you know? I know what it is to be on the streets as a kid. To be forced into a situation you aren't at all old enough to handle. I want to help her, and I care about her. I think she'd like to be with me." She swallowed. "With us both."

Mom was silent for what felt like forever, and I extended my neck to make sure the rushing sound of my blood pumping in my ears didn't obstruct her voice. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying… shit, I don't even know, Regina. All I know is that, ever since that kid showed up here, I've felt… drawn to her. Like I know her somehow. I don't know if it's because she reminds me so much of myself or what, but I can't fight it. I don't form attachments to people easily, but I have with her. In a way that I've only ever done before with Henry. I want what's best for her. And the other morning with the four of us all together for breakfast… that felt like what is best. For her. For all of us. I know I probably sound insane to you, and I agree. It does sound crazy. I mean, we can barely stand each other most of the time. We're already in a complicated enough situation with one kid shared between us to add another to the mix, but it just feels right to me." She sighed. "Go ahead. Laugh. Tell me I'm nuts. Threaten to destroy me again. I'm ready for it."

Mom spoke in an uncharacteristically small voice. "You're right."

"Don't hold back, Regina. Let me have it. I can handle—" Ma fell quiet. "Wait. What did you say?"

"You're right. I, too, have had this feeling since meeting Ava. As I'm sure you know, I can be rather… harsh around people I don't know or trust. Even some children. I never felt that way with Ava, though. I just want to help her. To be closer to her. I can't explain it, either. And the four of us together felt right to me, too. Strange but right. She seemed to just bring us all together. Like glue." She exhaled deeply. "And, as much as I hate to admit it, we are technically already sharing custody of a child. I suppose we could do the same with her."

"Thank you, Regina. For hearing me out and agreeing. Look at us. Being all civil and not trying to murder each other. Very adult of us."

"Yes, we're making leaps and bounds. By the way, have you heard from Ava or Neal recently? Surely they aren't still at the library—it's terribly late."

"No, I haven't heard a word from either of them."

"Maybe we should go and look for them…"

Backing up to the front door with Neal, I opened it again and slammed it shut, announcing our arrival. My moms emerged from the study together. I flashed them both a big smile.

"Hey," I greeted.

"There you are," Mom said. "We were just getting worried."

"I was about to launch a town search party," Ma teased.

"Sorry," I said. "We were just studying hard."

"Yep," Neal agreed with a smile that was trying way too hard to look innocent. "Got lost in the books. You know how it is."

"What subject were you studying for?" Mom asked.

Neal and I, unfortunately, answered at the exact same time.

"Geometry."

"Biology."

Our eyes widened, and we shared a panicked look while my moms scrutinized us.

"Geometry and Biology," Neal supplied quickly. "We were studying both. There are two tests first thing Monday."

I silently commended him for his resourcefulness. "Yeah. That's why it took us so long to finish up."

"Is that right?" It was obvious by the looks on their faces that neither of them believed us.

"Yep," I nodded. "School's tough, y'know."

"Uh-huh." Ma gave us another hard look before thankfully dropping the issue. "So, Neal, you want to head back to the loft with me for the night? Mary Margaret made cookies."

He looked at me with wide eyes and his bottom lip stuck out.

I laughed. "Go on. I'd hate to come between you and cookies." My eyes darkened. "I'll meet up with you tomorrow."

"Okay," he nodded. "Night, Ava. Night, Regina." He bounded back out the door.

"You know, Ava," Mom said diplomatically, "if you'd like, you can go with your brother to the loft for cookies as well." Her smile was thin. "My feelings wouldn't be hurt."

I looked between my two mothers before smiling widely. "I would, but I think I want to hang out here again tonight." Her eyes brightened. "I promised Henry we could have hot cocoa earlier today. It's not too late for that now, is it?"

She smiled. "I suppose I could make an exception for the night."

"And, y'know, Emma, you like hot cocoa, too," I said with a shrug. "You could take Neal over to Mary Margaret's and then come back to join us. If that's okay with Regina."

They shared a look between each other before both they slowly smiled.

"I think that would be fine," Mom allowed. "What do you say, Miss Swan?"

She grabbed her coat from the hangar. "Give me five minutes."

With a twirl and a flash of blonde hair, she was out the door and to her car, yelling at Neal to hurry up. I watched the way Mom stared after her with a soft smile, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip. Glancing down at my knowing grin, her face fell.

"What?" she asked. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing," I shrugged. "You just look really happy." Her smile returned despite her best efforts to fight it off while her cheeks flushed red. "I'll go get Henry and tell him he gets to stay up a little later than usual."

Rushing up the stairs, I couldn't help but laugh. It was weird, but I was grateful for that privilege. After all, not every kid got to watch their parents fall in love.


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning, I woke up under a canopy of bedsheets. Frowning slightly, I lifted my head and peered around me. Henry slept on one side of me, and Ma was on my other side. On the other side of Henry was Mom. Both had their arms draped around us, and I smiled when I saw their fingertips touching. It was something they did in my world, too. Something everyone always made fun of them for. Even unconscious, they held hands. That was True Love for you.

Last night had been my best night in days. The four of us had drank hot cocoa and put a movie on. Then, Henry, Ma, and I had convinced Mom to let us build a blanket fort in the living room to hang out in. At some point or another, we must've all fallen asleep together under there. My heart soared as I looked from one sleeping face to the next. This felt like home. This was my family. All together where they belonged finally. I realized then that I'd slept better than I had since arriving in that world. There wasn't any dream that night. I didn't transcend worlds like I had before. Maybe it was only effective on certain nights. Maybe it only worked when I was in my bedroom. Maybe the connection had to be strengthened now to work at all. I wasn't sure, but I knew we'd find out soon.

From the far side of our sleep sandwich, Mom stirred before opening her eyes. She looked around the fort with a furrowed brow before her eyes settled on me. The two of us shared a smile as we slipped outside of the blanket castle.

"We fell asleep under there," I informed her lamely.

"Yes, we did," she chuckled. "What do you say we fix breakfast for these sleepyheads? There is still some time before Miss Swan and I need to leave for work. Unfortunately, our jobs require we put in some hours on the weekend." A practice they'd both abandoned in my world when I was born. They decided Saturdays and Sundays were for the family, and that was even more important with a new baby in the house.

"Sounds good to me. Could we do French toast? With apples and cinnamon? It's my favorite."

She smirked before looping an arm around my shoulder. "Dear, that is my specialty. Come along."

The two of us worked in perfect synchronization, moving around the kitchen fluidly. Never in each other's way. Never faltering. It was a familiar environment to me. Ever since I was a little girl, I'd loved to help my mom cook. While Ma didn't know the first thing about the kitchen, I'd thankfully inherited my mother's aptitude for cooking. I was good at it, and it was a stress reliever for me. When I was in there working, especially with her, my problems weren't so urgent. Even when my life felt as if it were falling apart, it didn't seem so bad in the kitchen.

"This feels so oddly natural, doesn't it?" Mom noted as she peeled apples. I readied the toast. "We've only known you for a matter of days, but you seem to fit in so easily with me and Henry… and Miss Swan."

"You know, you can call her by her first name," I grinned toothily at her. "It's not against the law, and I think we would all appreciate it over 'Miss Swan.'"

Mom smirked. "I'm not sure if you've noticed, but she and I have something of a difficult relationship."

I shrugged. "Yeah, but it's never too late to change that. I mean, you both seemed to get along great last night. Everyone did. We were all laughing and having fun. It was nice."

She smiled thoughtfully. "Yes, it was."

"And you know what else? Not once did I hear you utter the words 'Miss' or 'Swan.' A miracle if there's ever been one." She rolled her eyes with a smile and bumped my hip with hers. And, God, that felt like home.

For a few minutes, we worked in comfortable silence. Until, of course, it was broken with a very complicated question.

"Where are yours and Neal's parents, Ava?"

I stiffened, lips pulling down. I knew this would come up eventually, especially after the conversation Neal and I overheard between my moms the night before. It was only a matter of time before it was brought up if they were seriously considering adopting us. I had managed to remain mysterious about it all up until then, but I knew that wasn't necessarily going to work this time.

I stared down at the eggs I was beating in the glass bowl. "They're… They're far away."

Mom's eyes were glued onto me from where she stood, but I refused to look up at her. "What does that mean?"

I cleared my throat awkwardly. "It means they aren't here."

"Did you get taken from them?"

The corners of my vision blurred with moisture I just wanted to blink away. "Yes." My voice had never sounded so weak.

"Ava, sweetie." She placed her hand on my shoulder, and I squeezed my eyes closed as the tears fell. How could she be so fucking close yet so far away? "I'm sorry. I know that must be upsetting for you both. You've been very strong for your brother, though. I can tell that you look after him. Just like you do with Henry. You're a remarkable young woman. But, dear, you don't have to be strong all the time. I'm here for when you can't."

A small sob wrenched its way past my lips, and I couldn't restrain myself any longer. Evil Queen or not, this was my mother, and I needed her. Turning, I buried my face in her shoulder, and she wrapped her arms around me securely. Her fingers combed through my hair gently like they always did when I hugged her. I clung to her, folding forward and wishing with everything in me that she'd remember. That they'd all remember.

But, of course, they wouldn't. Mom and Ma wouldn't remember me, because, in that world, I didn't exist yet. And how could you remember someone you'd never met?

"I'm sorry," I sniffled, lifting my head and wiping my eyes. "I didn't mean to get all mushy and gross. I don't usually do that. I just…" I swallowed. "It's been hard."

"I cannot imagine." Reaching out, she brushed my hair from my face. "I know you've been forced into a very hard position, and it isn't fair." She stroked my cheek. "You've had to fight and run for a while now, but that's over." She smiled. "You don't need to fight anymore, Ava. You and your brother are always welcome here. As far as I'm concerned, you're already part of the family."

I smiled back weakly. "Thank you. That means a lot to me." I took a deep breath to steady myself. "Alright. We should probably get the breakfast and coffee made before they wake. Those two are bears in the morning."

"You've already caught onto that?" Mom chuckled as we resumed cooking. "Smart girl."

I shrugged. "I'm intuitive, what can I say?"

"Hey, something smells great in here." Ma and Henry walked inside the kitchen, both sleepy-eyed with disheveled hair. "I love waking up to breakfast being made by someone else." She looked at me pointedly. "You know what you're doing there, Ava?"

I grinned. "Oh, please. I'm a whiz in the kitchen. Sit back and prepare to be amazed." I cracked a few more eggs smoothly and beat them, adding sugar and cinnamon to the batter mix.

"Where'd you learn all that?" Ma asked.

"My mom taught me a long time ago." I poured the batter over the toast on the griddle and flipped them over on their sides. "My other mother—she wasn't much for cooking. She's the only person I ever knew who found a way to burn water."

"Sounds like someone I'd have something in common with," she laughed. "Ask Mary Margaret. Last time I tried to cook, I nearly burned the loft down."

After Mom and I finished breakfast, we all four carried our plates to the dining table and sat down together to eat.

"So, what do you two have planned for this crisp Saturday?" Mom asked Henry and I. We exchanged a look between us. "Meeting up with Neal?"

"Yeah, I think so," Henry nodded.

"Whenever he decides to pull himself out of bed," I agreed. "After that, I don't know. Maybe we'll read some comics. Go to the park." I smirked at him and lowered my voice. "Maybe I'll take a little nap." He giggled, dropping his head.

"What was that?" Ma frowned at me.

I looked up at hers and my mom's suspicious looks. "I said I think for lunch I'll make a wrap. Y'know. Healthy and stuff. But I'm definitely putting bacon and ranch on it."

"Oh, that sounds good," Ma said. "With spicy salsa and sour cream on it. And beans and corn inside." We both took bites off our French toast with distant, hungry eyes.

"Is all either of you think about food?" Mom smirked, and Ma and I looked at each other.

We shrugged and spoke simultaneously, "Pretty much, yeah."

"God, that is spooky how you two do that," Mom remarked. "It's like you must share DNA or something."

Henry laughed again, and I tossed him a grin. "Yeah, it's pretty uncanny."

After breakfast, Ma left to get ready back at the loft while the rest of us showered and got dressed for the day. Henry and I sat on the sofa with a stack of his comics between us, thumbing through and leaning back on either arm of the lounge.

"So, who's your favorite?" he asked me.

"Hm?"

"Who's your favorite hero?"

I paused, thumbing through the X-Men issue I was currently holding. "Uh, that's a hard question. One you've asked me before. Or you will ask me in the future. Several times. It usually changes every time." He smiled. "This time, I think my favorite is Spiderman. Because he makes me laugh, and I think web-shooting would be a seriously dope power."

"Yeah, that one is pretty cool," he noted. "My favorite is—"

"Professor X," I finished for him. He furrowed his brow. "We've had this discussion before. My favorite might change a lot, but yours is always the same. You like Professor X because he is more than his powers. He's greater than a mutant or a hero. He understands that the pen is often mightier than the sword, and he puts the good of the future world before himself."

"We're pretty close in your world, too, huh?" he said.

"Super close. I won't give you any details because I don't want to spoil the surprise about where you'll be in another fifteen years, but it's great. There might be a twelve-year-gap between us, but we've always been close. You're my big brother, y'know? We look out for each other." I smiled. "You taught me how to believe in the things that I can't see. Unfortunately, I don't share the heart of the Truest Believer, but you've taught me how to overcome my doubts. In the world, magic, and in myself. So, thanks for that."

He grinned. "I know you didn't mean to come here to this world, and I know you have to get out of here as quick as possible, but I'm really glad I met you. I've been lonely for a long time. Even with Emma here, it's hard because she doesn't believe. Not really. And I don't have any friends. You're the first person who has ever seen me as more than just a little kid with the overactive imagination." He swallowed. "You're the first friend I've ever had. The first person to ever give me a chance. Thank you, Ava. I know you're not really into emotions, and this could be way too much too soon, but I-I want to tell you that I, um, I love you."

I smiled at him before leaning forward and wrapping my arms around him. "I love you, too, Hen."

The sound of sniffling caught my ear, and I glanced up to see Mom standing in the doorway, watching us with glistening eyes. Judging by the look on her face, I could tell she hadn't heard all our conversation. Just enough. She smiled at me, wiping the corners of her eyes, and I winked back at her.

Ten minutes later, Mom left for work, and not two minutes after she'd left, Neal walked in.

"Hey," I said as Henry and I stood. "What? Were you camped out there waiting for her to leave?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "What else was I supposed to do?"

"Maybe knock on the door like a normal person? She knew you were coming over."

"Whatever. I'm still a little nervous interacting with the Evil Queen. Sue me."

I glared at him. "She's not the Evil Queen, Neal. She's my mother. Regina. The woman who helped raise you. Lose the chip on your shoulder." He frowned. "Sorry. I just… you know how I get when people call her that."

"No, I'm sorry. That wasn't cool of me."

I looked at him and Henry. "Alright, guys. Let's get this over with. I want to get under the curse and back out as fast as possible."

The three of us walked upstairs to my bedroom, where I procured the apple from its hiding place under my pillow.

"Good thing I like apples," I said, polishing it on my shirt.

"Are you sure about this, Ava?" Neal asked with a frown. "You know what Mom said about the Sleeping Curse she was under. She had nightmares for months after being brought out of it. Terrifying nightmares. Trapped in a burning room. Your soul literally travels to the Netherworld. That's not easy to go through. And we don't even know for certain if you'll be able to come out of it."

"Neal." I squeezed his shoulder and smiled gently. "Remember what I said? Believing in something is what makes it true. We have to believe this will work. Okay?" He nodded weakly. "I'll tell your parents that you miss them."

"And I love them," he inserted.

I smiled back at him. "I will." Lying on my back on my bed, I took a deep breath and stared down at the apple. "See you guys when I get back."

"Be careful, Ava." Henry hugged me again tightly. "Make sure you come back to us."

"I promise I will, Henry. I swear." He drew back, and I lifted the apple to my face. "Here goes nothing."

Without taking another moment to talk myself out of it, I took a big bite out of the apple. It was bitter and disgusting, and I had to struggle to swallow it without choking. Immediately, my vision swam, and my head grew light. I collapsed against the pillow, the concerned voices of Henry and Neal coming to me in distant echoes. Slowly, my eyes fell shut, and there was nothing beyond the darkness.


	11. Chapter 11

My eyes opened again, and I was back in my room. My room. The one from my world. As soon as I was awake, I felt the difference in the atmosphere, the change from the other times I appeared there. It felt stronger. I felt stronger. My senses were clearer, and my feet felt firmer on the ground. It felt more real than ever before. Not like a dream at all.

I gazed around the room and searched for some source of the magical tie. My eyes fell on something glowing ever so slightly above the bed. Furrowing my brow, I moved closer to it. My dreamcatcher. It was my dreamcatcher. The one Ma had given me. That made sense. Dreamcatchers were powerful, and they held memories. Especially when they were passed down from loved ones. That dreamcatcher held a lot of emotions. It was a strong tie between my mothers and I. Of course, it would bring me back to them.

There were more voices downstairs, and I walked out of my room. No need to rush now—as long as I was under the curse, I had all the time in the world with them. The voices came from the den downstairs, and I headed that way. Inside, there were more people than before. Not just my parents and Gran and Gramps. Aunt Zelena was there, too. And Mr. Gold. And Henry.

"We've searched everywhere," Gramps said, shaking his head. "The town. The forest. The mines. There is no way they're still in Storybrooke."

"Emma, did you get a hold of your old contacts in Boston and New York?" Gran questioned.

"Yeah," Ma nodded. "They have pictures of them, and they've promised me that if they're there, they'll find them." She ran her fingers through her hair. "I just don't think they're in either of those places. I don't think they ran away."

"They definitely didn't run away," Henry agreed, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Wherever they are, they were taken there by… someone or something."

"You want my opinion?" Mr. Gold said. "It's got something to do with magic. I can't be sure what yet, but something doesn't feel right."

"You're right." I stepped forward, and they all spun around. "It was magic."

"Oh my God, Ava!" My mothers raced to me with tears in their eyes and engulfed me in a hug.

"You're alright," Ma breathed as they looked me over.

"Where have you been?" Mom asked.

"And where is Neal?" Gran added.

"It's a very long story, but I've got plenty of time to tell it," I said. I stopped, though, and looked at my moms with a big, watery smile. "I'm so glad you guys can finally see me."

"What do you mean?" Ma inquired. "What's going on, sweetie?"

"So, here's what happened. You remember the morning Neal and I disappeared? I grabbed the book from Mom's study for my genealogy thing." They both nodded. "Well, it was the wrong book. It was some kind of spell book, and I didn't realize it until Neal and I were walking to school. I don't know which one. It was black leather, and most of it was written in gibberish. I know I should've just brought it back home and found the right one, but I was curious. Neal told me not to mess with it, but I didn't listen because I'm an idiot. I opened the book, and it did… something. I'm not sure what or how. I didn't say any spells or use any ingredients or potions or anything. It just happened on its own. One second, we were walking to school. The next, the ground was opened under us, and we were ripped into another world. A cursed Storybrooke world."

"What?" Mom gasped. "You time-travelled?"

"I think so," I shrugged. "Either time-travelled or world-hopped or something. I'm still not sure about it. When we got there, the book was gone, and we've been trying to find it for days."

"I don't understand," Gran shook her head. "If that's the case, how are you here now? Where is Neal?"

"Neal's safe," I assured her. "He's back there with Henry, and he wanted me to tell you that he loves and misses you both." She and Gramps smiled sadly. "I've been here before, but you couldn't see or hear me. The dreamcatcher keeps bringing me back. I guess my magic is tapping into it." Ma smiled at me.

"Wait, so how can we see you now?" Henry asked.

I sucked in a deep breath. "That's the part you're really not going to like."

Mom placed her hands on her hips. "What does that mean, young lady?"

"Well, in order to communicate with you guys, I had to strengthen the connection of the magic," I explained. "Which meant I had to go deeper than just a regular nights' sleep." Brows furrowed in confusion. All except for Gold's.

"You must be joking," he said. "Surely you aren't that stupid, dearie."

"Excuse me?" Mom rounded on him in annoyance. "What makes you think you can speak to my daughter like that?"

"No, he's right," I said. "What I did, what I'm _doing_ is stupid, but I had to. So, I could talk to you." I exhaled. "I went to Jefferson, and I convinced him to give me a cursed apple." Their eyes all widened. "It was the only way."

"You put yourself under a sleeping curse?" Ma demanded. "Ava, that is so dangerous. No to mention, Jefferson is totally whacked out. What were you thinking?"

"I had to see you," I said. "Or I had to make you see me. I need help. I'm trying as hard as I can to fix this, but I can't do it all on my own. Neal is… he has no clue what to do, and the only other person who knows anything about it right now is Henry. He believes me, but he can't help us with the magic stuff. And now they're both looking to me for answers and help. I'm doing everything that I know, but I'm not exactly great with magic. And I'm scared and overwhelmed, and I just can't handle this on my own."

"Sweetie, it's alright." My moms hugged me again. It was the hug that always made me feel better. Always calmed me down. "It's okay. We understand."

Mom took my face in her hands. "We're going to figure this out and get both you and Neal back home with us. You've been very brave through all this, and you're doing a great job." She brushed my hair from my eyes. "So, the book you found. I believe I know which one it is. I've been meaning to destroy it for a while now. It was one of my mother's. I found it in some of my old things recently. You're right. It is powerful, and it has her evil essence in it still. That's why it reacted the way it did to your presence. It sensed the magic inside of you, and it responded strongly to that. Because you have my blood in your veins, which, unfortunately, means you have my mother's blood."

"Not unfortunately," I said. "I'm proud of who I am. Of who you are." She smiled, and I took her hand in mine. I didn't pay attention to which hand it was.

Her eyes widened, and she grabbed it. I winced as she turned it palm up and exposed my stitches. "What happened to your hand?"

"Who did that to you?" Ma growled.

"I did it," I answered, and their eyes flashed up at me. "I told you. I'm an idiot."

Mom glanced over at Ma. "You get it honest."

"Yeah," I muttered. "If there's one thing being in the past has shown me, it's that Ma's pretty stupid."

"Hey," she grumbled. "Lay off. I'm far from the dumbest person here."

"Oh, yeah. That reminds me. Gramps." I turned to him. "What the hell? You were married to someone else during the curse?" His mouth fell open in shock. "Why did no one tell me about this? Do you know how infuriating it is to watch you and Gran mope around like you aren't soulmates? I've met this Kathryn woman once, and I almost clawed her eyes out."

Gran beamed. "That's my granddaughter."

"I remember those days," Ma sighed. "It was awful watching them dance around all their romantic tension."

I spun on her and Mom. "And don't even get me started on you two. I've been living with Mom for days now, and I've never been so pissed off before." They cocked their eyebrows at me, but I kept going. "First off, Ma arrested me within the first twenty-four hours of being there. Mom has threatened to destroy you more times than I can count. And then the two of you just keep looking at each like you want to make out, and it's gross. Almost as terrible as it is watching you pretend like you aren't totally into each other. Especially when I know you're going to get married in, like, a year. And then cursed-Gold is all kinds of creepy and evil. Seriously, you're like a scarecrow in that world. Thank God you cut your hair now." He tightened his eyes at me. "In fact, the only person in that world with any sense at all is Henry." His chest swelled in pride. "And he's a total dweeb."

He deflated immediately. "Hey. Not cool. I was a sad, lonely kid."

"Yeah, I noticed."

"Excuse me," Mom said again. "Will you please tell me exactly how you managed to injure your hand?"

I frowned. "Oh, yeah. Well, I knew the book could only be in one of two places in a Land Without Magic. My mother's vault or Gold's shop. It was just a matter of process of elimination." I swallowed. "So, Neal and I might have broken into the pawn shop to find it."

"I beg your pardon?" Gold said, face twisting.

"To be fair, I busted my hand, and I got caught by the Sheriff," I said. "So, y'know, I think I've paid enough for my brilliant yet misguided plan."

"You were right to think that it would wind up there," Mom nodded. "Although, I can't support your tactics. But that book is a living, magical entity. It seeks out other magical objects and beings. It doesn't just contain magic. It _is_ magic."

"Like me," I said, frowning slightly. "I mean, I'm a magical entity, too. It's how I was made."

"You were made through True Love," Ma corrected.

"Yeah. True Love magic." I tapped my chin. "So, I can use my magic to find the book's magic. Mom, you told me that magic always leaves a signature behind. That it leaves a trail. We just have to open our eyes wide enough to see it. So, all I have to do is find the trail and follow it back to your vault." I looked up at Mom. "Which reminds me. I know there are security measures surrounding the vault. I assumed blood magic, which I can get through, but I didn't know if there was anything more to it. And we can't risk getting caught. That could ruin everything."

"There are several charms protecting the vault, but they're all blood magic. You should be fine getting in, and if you track down the book's magic, you should have no issue finding it in there." She placed her hands on my shoulders. "You've been listening during our magic lessons. I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks," I said. "I've missed you guys so much. It's been so hard seeing you every day and knowing you guys don't remember me." Ma wrapped her arm around me. "You guys are super stubborn, even in the past." They laughed. "The good news, though, is that, even when you don't know who I am, you still care about me. A lot." I grinned at them. "You've even set aside your differences enough to discuss adopting me. Raising another kid together."

"You've always had a way of bringing us all together," Ma smiled. "You and your brother both."

"I have to go back soon," I sighed. "I have what I came here for: a plan. I'll go back and use my magic to locate the book. Break into the vault and retrieve it. Then, I find the spell that will undo all this. And, y'know, possibly a forgetting spell, too. Wouldn't want to tear apart the space time continuum."

"And what was your plan for getting back anyway?" Zelena asked. "Tap the heels of your ruby red slippers together?"

"You're hilarious," I said back with just as much snark, and she grinned. My aunt and I often traded insults and snappy words, but it was more of an ongoing joke between us. A competition on who could be wittier. There was never any harm or hurt meant. "I was actually hoping to borrow your broom to hitch a ride, but I figure you need it for riding around stealing candy from little kids."

"Oh, nice one," she cackled. "You get better with every day."

"Thanks." I faced my mothers. "Actually, I was hoping that True Love's kiss could help out. I'm grounded here physically right now. Anchored. You can touch me. You can break the curse."

"Emma," Ma said uncertainly. "We don't know if that will work. It didn't for my parents when they were cursed."

"You have to believe it will, Ma. We all do." I smiled at Henry. "Because it's your belief in something that makes it true." He grinned. "I know this will work. I believe in you both. I believe that Neal and I will get back home. I believe this is all going to end soon enough, and we'll get our happy endings. I believe that with everything in me. I need you to as well."

Both my mothers smiled widely, and Ma squeezed my hand. "We do, sweetie. We believe in you. We love you. And we know you're going to come back to us."

"Be careful, Ava."

"I love you all. I'll be back soon."

They both leaned forward and kissed my forehead gingerly. My eyes closed, and I suddenly felt as though I was being jerked through space at breakneck speed. The air was knocked from my lungs, and a wave of nausea crashed over me.

With a gasp of air, I bolted upright out of the bed. My eyes darted around the room, and I spotted Neal and Henry staring at me with wide eyes.

"You're back!" Henry exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah," I nodded, wiping a thin sheen of sweat from my face. "I'm back. And I know how to get us home."


	12. Chapter 12

_A/N: Here's a long one where some shit happens. We're getting really close to the ending, but there are still some bumps in the road ahead for Ava and Neal. Thanks for sticking by this story that I drew out so long by not updating. And shout out to Terri411-you are one faithful-ass reviewer, and I love it! :)_

* * *

"So, what's the point of this again?"

I knit my brow, eyes closed, and lips pulled down in irritation. "Mom taught me this. I have to use my magic to track down the book. To do that I have to focus. Which usually works better when I meditate. And when you're quiet. So, shut up and let me concentrate."

There were a few more minutes of silence.

"I just don't see how this is supposed to help anything."

"Neal, for God's sake!" I opened my eyes and glared up at him impatiently from my perch on the floor. "Shut up before I punch you in the throat."

"Look, we know the book is in the vault, right?" he said. "Why do you need to tap into your magic to track it down?"

"Because that book is dangerous, Neal. Even more than we originally thought. It was my grandmother's. Y'know, scary, evil Cora who ripped out hearts for the hell of it and sent my mother on the path to become the Evil Queen? There's no telling how much bad juju she left in the book. If there is one thing all this has taught me, it's that we have to have a plan. We can't just run around guns blazing and expect it to all work because we're the good guys. We have to be smart. If we don't, we will fail. And if we fail, not only are we never getting back home, but there probably won't even be a home to get back to. How long do you think we can be keep this up before we're found out? If that happens, we are so beyond screwed. The future, life as we know it, will be gone. So—and I'm only going to say this once more—shut up."

"Fine." He held his hands up in surrender. "Do your voodoo."

I closed my eyes again and refolded my legs underneath me. "And it isn't voodoo, FYI. It's magic."

"Hey, guys. What's up?" Henry walked into my bedroom, still dressed in his school uniform with his book bag slung over his shoulder.

"Sh, she's concentrating," Neal hissed.

"Oh, sorry," Henry whispered before dropping his bag and sitting down on the bed beside Neal. "What's she concentrating on?"

"Her magic."

"What's that going to do?"

"She's going to use it to track the book down. Something about magical breadcrumb trails. I don't understand it all."

"Oh, that sounds cool."

"Not really. She's just sitting there with her legs crossed and her eyes closed."

"How long she been doing this?"

"Hours. It's so boring."

"That's it!" I jumped to my feet, glaring at the two. "I am going to do this outside in the backyard. Nobody follow me—you'll just distract me. No offense, but you two don't know how to be quiet. I'll yell if I get anything."

"Okay," Henry shrugged. "Hey, Neal. Want to play video games?"

"Is that even a question?"

I stomped outside to the backyard, grumbling under my breath about the two of them as I did. Standing square-shouldered under my mom's apple tree, I closed my eyes again and quieted my mind. No more distractions. Just me and my magic.

Mom always told me that everything I ever needed was inside me. I was capable of anything if I believed in myself, but there were times when I wasn't so sure of that. I wasn't the smartest or strongest or most powerful magic user, and I barely had a grasp on my magic as it was. Really, I was a giant screw-up. After all, it was my fault Neal and I were trapped in the past. But that was it, wasn't it? It was my magic that activated that book. That awoke it. It was my magic that got us there, and it was my magic that would get us out.

I could practically hear my mother's voice then, guiding me along.

 _"The magic is inside you, Ava. Everything you need to accomplish your goal is within you. You just have to reach far enough to grasp it. Go within yourself. Don't think about what's around you. Don't think about the things you sense. Don't even think about my voice. Turn your distractions into white noise that helps you better concentrate on your goal."_

I thought about the book. How much I needed it. I thought about Neal. About home. My moms. Henry. Gran and Gramps. Aunt Zelena. My entire family. I thought about how much I just wanted to get back to my life. The one where I had two parents who remembered me. Who loved me, and whom I loved back more than anything. I thought about how much I missed making apple cider with my mom. How much I missed going to the gym and working out with Ma. How much I even missed school. How I just wanted to be with them. To be home.

A dull hum thrummed in my ears, drowning out all other sounds, and I felt something in my throat. A warmth rolling through me. Growing larger by the minute. It was travelling downwards like a runaway cannonball, choking me on its way to my sternum. Pin-balling around my rib cage. Shooting down the length of my outstretched arms before erupting from the open palms of my hands.

My eyes flashed open as I gasped for air, and I blinked hastily to regain my bearings. I had nearly fallen over from the power of the blast, and there were several apples fallen onto the ground from the tree above me from the impact. From the backdoor of the house, Henry and Neal raced towards me.

"Ava, what happened?" Neal demanded, eyes wide. "We heard a loud boom, and then there was like this pulse of light and wind. It was crazy."

"Are you okay?" Henry questioned.

"I'm fine." I frowned, shaking the haze from my head. "I just…" I looked up, and my jaw dropped. There, right in front of me, was a trail of pale blue light leading out to the sidewalk.

"Oh shit," I breathed, a dazed smile spreading over my lips. "It worked."

"What worked?" Neal followed my eye line and furrowed his brow. "What are you looking at?"

"You don't see it?" I asked, and the two of them shook their heads. "I've got a trail to the book. All we have to do is follow it, and we'll find it."

"What are we waiting for then?" Henry said excitedly. "Let's go!"

The three of us raced through town, Neal and Henry following while I chased the trail before me. The closer we grew to the vault, the stronger it seemed to get, growing brighter and brighter with every step. By the time we reached the Mills family mausoleum in the middle of the cemetery, it was pulsing, and I could physically feel the vibrations coming off it.

"So, it is in there," Neal said as we approached the tomb. He shivered. "Ugh. No offense to your mom, Ava, but this place always gave me the creeps."

"I think that was what she was going for, Neal," I rolled my eyes back at him. "It's her father's resting place and her magical vault. She didn't really want people around it." I rested my hand on the solid oak door and stared at the handles a moment before looking back at Henry and Neal. "I have to go in alone."

"What?" they chorused.

"Guys—" I started.

"No way," Neal shook his head. "You're not going in there alone."

"We're in this together," Henry added. "Operation Nemo is a team effort."

I smiled. "Operation Nemo. Like the movie?"

"Yeah, because you guys are trying to find your way home. That's what I'm calling it."

"Very creative. I like it."

"Yeah, yeah. Whiskey, foxtrot, tango, and all that crap," Neal said impatiently with a wave of his hand. "Ava, we're not letting you go in that thing alone."

"I have to. Mom said she has the place guarded with blood magic. The only people who can enter without raising an alarm are her or someone who shares her DNA. And I'm the only one here that fits the bill."

He crossed his arms, looking so much like Gramps. "I don't like it. Not at all."

"Relax." I squeezed his shoulder. "It's not like it would be the first time I've ever been in there. Mom and I are in here once a week for magic lessons. It's fine." He still didn't look totally convinced. "I can't believe I'm going to say this to the direct offspring of Snow White and Prince Charming but have a little faith." His expression softened. "I'll be back before you know it."

"Be careful, Ava. I'm serious."

"Always am, Neal. You guys keep an eye out for trouble." I turned and faced the door again. Taking a deep breath, I gripped the handles and pushed each door open. There was no alarm. No ringing. No magical force blasting me backwards. Nothing kept me from stepping inside the small stone crypt. I coughed at the musty air as the doors closed with a _thunk_ behind me and turned to face the marble casket. Sighing, I placed my palms down on top of it and stared down at it as guilt rose up in my chest as it always did whenever I came there.

"Sorry, Grandpa," I whispered. "One day, I swear I'll stop disturbing your final resting place. I really hope dead people don't hold grudges." With that, I pushed the coffin as hard as I could. Accompanied by the sound of stone grinding over stone, it slid against the wall revealing the hidden stairway beneath. I hurried down, still led by the now vibrant blue dust.

Inside the vault, the light led me straight to an old chest in the corner of the room. I was eternally grateful for the trail as I bypassed all the other possible hiding spots and knelt in front of the chest. I pried at the lid but found it locked tight. I tried my hand at opening it with magic, but it seemed that I wasn't strong enough so soon after creating the locator spell.

"Damn," I cursed under my breath and looked around for a key or at least an object to force it open. "Come on. Don't do this now. Not when I'm so close."

"Close to what, my dear?"

I froze at the chilling voice as it echoed off the stone walls. A cold breeze seemed to accompany it, freezing me to my very bones. Gulping, I turned slowly and faced my mother. Who looked a lot less like Mom and a whole lot more like the Evil Queen as her dark eyes glinted at me.

Out of all the things that I could've said in that moment, only one syllable fell from my lips. "Shit."

Mom raised an eyebrow at me as she stalked a few steps closer. "Indeed. What are you doing down here, hm?"

I paused, glancing around for an answer that wasn't there. "Uh… scavenger hunt?"

Her smile was tight and callous. "Nice try."

"Where are Henry and Neal?" I questioned, placing my body firmly between her and the chest. I wasn't going to screw this up. Not when the book was right there.

"I sent your brother home to Mary Margaret," she said. "And Henry is in his bedroom, where he will remain for the rest of the evening. You should choose better guards next time you break into someone else's property." Her cold mask slipped as regret filled her eyes. "Why are you here, Ava? How did you even get inside?"

"I just walked in," I answered, and she frowned. "I needed something out of here."

"Something?" she repeated. "I don't understand." Suddenly, her expression turned to stone again. "You should never have come here."

"I had to."

"Why?"

"You really want to know?" I snapped back. My patience had just run out, and I cracked under the immense amount of pressure and fear I'd been carrying on my back since falling into that stupid world. "Fine then—I'll tell you! But don't say I didn't warn you." I took a step closer to her. "I know _everything_. I know about the curse." Her eyes widened, and her lips parted in shock. "I know about magic. All of it. And I know exactly who you are."

She managed to compose herself enough to speak. "And who is that?"

My façade crumbled, and my voice came out as little more than a whimper. "My mom." She frowned in confusion. "I know I shouldn't tell you this, but I have to. I know that deep down inside of you, you're still the person I know. I know it. This—" I gestured to her wall of beating hearts— "isn't you. Not really. I know you're still hurt and angry over what happened to Daniel, and I know that right now all you think you want is revenge. But this isn't your happy ending. It never was. Our family is your happy ending."

"What are you talking about?"

I sighed, shoulders slumping. "My name isn't Ava Swift, and Neal isn't my brother. I'm Ava Isabelle Swan-Mills, and I'm your daughter."

She was barely able to speak. "S-Swan-Mills? What? How?"

"I'm not from this world. I'm from the future. Neal and I both are. We got dropped off here because of a magical fluke from one of your mother's spell books. In the future, the curse has been broken for a long time, and you're married." I hesitated, knowing this was the part she would like least. "To Emma Swan."

"I beg your pardon?" She seemed more angry than shocked.

"Yeah, I know it's a lot to swallow. Although, just so you know, the romantic tension between you guys even right now in this world is insane. Like, seriously, you've got to notice that. Anyway, you and Ma fell in love and got married, right? Well, since Ma's the Savior and all, she has magic. And you have magic, too." She knit her brow, and I sighed. "Because you both have magic, you made me. Y'know, like, sex stuff."

Her mouth formed a perfect "Oh."

"Yeah. Gross, but it happened. That's why I was able to get in here without setting off any alarms. I'm your blood. And that's why you, me, Henry, and Ma have all been drawn together since I got here. We're family, no matter what world we're in. The book that I need to get back to my world is in this chest, and it is the only way I can set things right. Please, you've got to believe me." She looked uncertain, and I grew desperate. "Look into my eyes. You have to know." I grasped her hand and pressed it against my chest where my heart pounded erratically as hot tears blurred my vision. "Please, Mom. Believe me."

She stared at me for a long moment, and I hoped and prayed that somehow, by some miracle, she would recognize me. For what felt like forever, she looked at me like I might be crazy. Then, her face lit up, and her eyes grew wide.

Under her breath, a quiet "Ava" was exhaled, and I knew just by the way she said my name that she knew.

I smiled widely, cheeks wet with tear tracks. "Mom."

She pulled me close in a hug. "Oh my God, Ava." I breathed in her perfume and nuzzled deeper into her shoulder as she held me like I was priceless. "It's you."

"Do you remember me?" I asked, looking up at her. "Do you remember our world?"

She wrinkled her forehead. "It's all… fuzzy. I can't recall individual moments. It's not really like I remember it. I just… I feel it." She smiled back at me sweetly and cupped my face. "But I remember you clearly. My beautiful, miracle girl." She kissed my forehead. "I'm so sorry I didn't see it sooner."

"It's okay. Technically, we are in the past. I'm not even born yet, so you get a pass." She laughed hoarsely and stroked my cheekbones with her thumbs. "I love you, Mom."

Tears built up in her eyes. "I love you, too, Ava."

"And I'd love to stay here with you all day now that you know who I am," I said, "but I can't. I have to get back home before I fuck up the whole timeline."

"Language," she reprimanded me.

I smiled goofily. "Whoa. Déjà vu." Turning, I picked up the chest and lifted it towards her. "Don't suppose you have a key for this, do you?" She smirked at me before pointing a finger at the lock. The tumblers all clicked at once, and the lid sprang open. "Or that works." Reaching inside, I pulled out the black spell book that had caused me so much trouble and sighed down at it. "I really hate this thing."

"You and me both." Mom furrowed her brow at it. "That was Cora's. The first one she ever passed down to me. I forgot I even had it. It's one of her oldest books. The amount of dark magic she's summoned from it is immeasurable."

"Explains why it's vibrating in my hand," I remarked before placing a flat palm on either side of the book. "I'm going to try something. Something you taught me." Closing my eyes, I knit my brow together in concentration and channeled my magic from my hands into the book. Seconds later, the book flew open in my hands, and the pages began to flip of their own volition. They came to a stop on a familiar page that made me grimace. "This is it. This is the spell that brought Neal and me here."

"Very impressive, dear," Mom noted proudly, and I smiled back at her.

"You've taught me well," I said back before turning the book towards her. "We never got to the lesson on gibberish, though. Can you read this?"

"Not gibberish," she corrected. "Elvish, and yes, I can." Taking the book, she skimmed over the page with her lips pursed. "It's a time travelling spell alright and a powerful one at that. It's a miracle neither of you were hurt during it. It's very complex. How did you cast it?"

"I sneezed." She looked over the book at me incredulously, and I shrugged. "You said once that magic seeks out other magic. The book is filled with magic. I'm made of magic. There was a strong reaction when the two of us clashed."

"That does make sense," she said. "Mother's book would try to attach itself to the most powerful entity near it."

"Does it say how we can reverse the spell?" I questioned. "Should I just sneeze on it again or something?"

"I think we'd do well to follow the formal instructions this time around. You and Neal might not get so lucky a second time."

"Good thinking. Can you help us?"

She took my hand in hers. "Of course, Ava. Always."

"Good." I chewed my lower lip. "And, um, there's something else we should probably do."

"What's that?"

"A forgetting spell," I answered, and she frowned. "I mean, Neal and I did time travel, and you and Henry both know in the past who we are. Everyone in town has seen us around. Imagine how that could mess up the future if we just left without cleaning up after ourselves. I really don't want you to forget about me again, but I think it's the only way we can ensure that everything still comes out fine in the end."

She smiled sadly at me. "You're so smart and responsible."

"Clearly, I didn't take after Ma," I joked, and she grinned.

"Only in some ways. In others, I see Emma Swan all over you. Surprisingly enough, that doesn't make me want to hurl." I laughed. "You somehow came out with the best of both of us." She sighed heavily. "You're right. Once you and Neal are on your way home, I'll cast a forgetting spell over the entire town, myself included. As much as it breaks my heart, I must forget about you."

"I'm sorry, Mom." I hugged her waist. "I wish things could be different."

"It's alright, sweetie. You're going to the future where I have you, Henry, and your mother in my life. Like you said, that is my happy ending. I may not remember all of it right now, but I know I am happy in the future. I have everything I ever wanted." She kissed the top of my hair. "A family I love."

"And who loves you back just as much," I beamed up at her, and she squeezed me closer.

"Precisely. Now, hurry. We need to act quickly to get you and Neal back where you belong."


	13. Chapter 13

"So, where are we going again?"

I followed closely beside my mother as we hurried down the street together.

"An… old friend's place," she answered. "Some of the ingredients required to reverse the spell are impossible to come by in this world, and I don't have them on me. I know someone who does, though."

I frowned. "Rumpelstiltskin."

She glanced over at me. "He's in the future as well? I'd hoped he would just flit back to the Enchanted Forest if the curse ever broke. Or that I'd crush his heart. Either way."

"Number one, he's the Dark One," I reminded her. "There will be no heart-crushing by you. I've already had one parent go all Dark One on me, I don't need another." She furrowed her brow at me, and I shook my head. "Long, very painful story. Needless to say, it sucked, and we were all traumatized by it for a while. But it's over now, and we're all good. Gold's is in our world, but he's a lot cooler. I mean, he's still all stoic and grumpy, but he's happy. Like genuinely so. He has his True Love. They have a baby together now. It's great. Really, he's just good old Uncle Rumple to me."

She raised an eyebrow at me. "He lets you call him that?"

"Nope, but I do it anyway. His face always gets super red, and he threatens to steal my heart every time I do it. It always makes for a good laugh. He's all talk, though. We're kind of close, actually. He helps me with my magic sometimes, too, and we've got a nice dynamic. He bosses me around like Mr. Miyagi. I tell him his accent makes him sound like Shrek. He threatens me. I call his bluff. Cycle repeats." I grinned. "He won't admit it, but he loves hanging out with me. He wouldn't harm a hair on my head."

"He'd better not," Mom mumbled as we approached the pawn shop.

"Relax, Mom. It's cool. I say this about a lot of people, but he and I are basically best friends."

She and I entered the shop together, and Gold looked up at us from behind his counter. His face screwed up in contempt at me as he hobbled forward.

"Well, if it isn't the little street rat who broke into my shop," he growled, golden teeth clenched. "What the hell are you doing back here?"

I winced. "Oh, yeah. Forgot I broke in here before."

"Right you did. I had to replace the glass pane in my front door, and you left a giant mess behind that I had to sort through."

"No offense, dude, but have you seen your storage room? It was already a huge mess before I ever got here. Like, seriously. Invest in an organizer or something."

"How dare you come onto my property and speak to me like that, you rotten little pest? I have half a mind to toss you out in the dumpster where you belong, you annoying—"

"That's enough, Gold!" Mom spat out at him, nostrils flaring. We both looked at her in surprise, and I slipped my hand in hers in the hopes that it would calm her down. While she squeezed it tightly, she didn't look to be any less furious. "I won't have you talk to her like that."

"It's fine," I reminded her, drawing both their eyes my way. "It's just the curse talking, remember?" I beamed at Gold. "We both know he doesn't hate me in real life. Right, Uncle Rumple?"

"Uncle… what?" His eyes narrowed at me in confusion before widening again, and his mouth fell open. "Ava? Regina? I don't understand." He ran a hand through his hair. "What's going on? What are you doing in my shop?"

"You mean in your swamp, sir Shrek?"

His eyes flashed at me. "If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times to stop calling me that, girl. I should turn you into a toad for that."

I grinned at Mom. "He remembers."

Once he gathered his bearings, I explained what all had happened, and he listened carefully, leaning on his cane with both hands.

"Playing with magic, dearie?" he sighed once I'd finished. "I'd say your mother and I have both taught you better than that."

"Yeah, you have. But, as I keep telling you people, and you all keep forgetting, I am an idiot. I do dumb stuff a lot. It's kind of my trademark. Anyway, will you help us?"

He nodded. "Yes, I will. It's not like I've got very much choice. If you and your cousin aren't returned to your world as soon as possible, there's no telling what could happen. Time travel is a dangerous thing. You should think twice before you ever attempt it again, Miss Swan-Mills."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I'll give it serious thought next time I accidentally sneeze out a spell."

"What is the spell?" he asked, and Mom opened the book for him to see. "Ah. That's a complicated one."

"I know," she agreed. "I have some of the required ingredients, but not these." She pointed out the ones she didn't have. "I've brought with me what I had. I know you've got the ones I don't."

He hummed as he read the spell over. "Yes, I do. It will take some time to prepare, though. As I said, it's not a simple concoction." He looked up at me. "And you'll need to help, dearie."

"Me?" I repeated with wide eyes. "Why me? I'm the one who fuc—" I stopped myself at the look my mother gave me— "who messed it all up to begin with."

"Perhaps so, but this book has tethered its magic to you," he said. "That's a strong bond that can only be broken if the book is destroyed or if you…" He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "You know what I mean. The only way that we can ensure the spell will work is by using your magic."

"Well, when you put it that way, I guess I'm in."

"Excellent. Both of you, follow me." He led us back to a hidden room filled with magical items and artifacts. In the middle of the room, on a big wooden table, was a black cauldron. "We can do it in here." He looked at me. "Are you ready, dearie?"

"Just tell me what to do."

"For starters, bring me that jar there."

I rushed to one of the many shelves against the walls containing jars and bottles of strange-looking things. I furrowed my brow at the dark one in disgust. It appeared that it had eyes inside it. Still-moving eyes.

"This one that is looking back at me?" I questioned.

Mom glanced up from the spell book that she and Gold were bent over and smiled at my disgruntled expression in amusement. "Yes, that one." Grimacing, I reluctantly picked the jar up and held it at arms-length away from me as I carried it over to them. Gold took the jar and opened the lid. I cringed, know that he was about to pluck one of those disgusting eyes out and drop it in the cauldron. He reached in, and I tried not to gag as I waited for the wet sound that I was sure was to follow. However, it never came, and when he lifted his hand out of the jar it wasn't an eyeball in his palm. It was smooth, white stone that seemed to hold glowing, colorful lights inside of it. My eyes widened in wonder, and I leaned forward.

"I don't get it," I said. "They look like eyeballs in the jar."

"These are very valuable stones, Miss Swan-Mills." Gold rubbed the gem between his thumb and forefinger. The lights seemed to grow even brighter. "You don't think I'd just leave them where anyone could see them? No, precautions must be taken." He held the stone out to my face. "Blow on it."

"Huh?" I scrunched my nose up.

"I told you, dearie. We need your magic."

"Um, okay. Just kind of a weird request." Leaning forward, I blew on the stone. It grew even brighter, and I could feel the warmth radiating off it. Without a word, Gold dropped it into the clear liquid inside the cauldron. Almost immediately, steam rolled off the top.

"What are these things?" I asked as I walked the now-closed jar back to its place on the shelf. "What do they do?"

"Wishing stones," Mom replied. "They're made of concentrated pixie dust and have the power to grant the true desires of the heart. Only if one's intentions are pure, though. It's very light, very powerful magic."

"Indeed, it is," Gold answered as he poured something green from a bottle into the cauldron. "You've no idea how long it took and how hard it was to acquire those." He fell quiet as he stirred the brew and added in a few sprigs of some strange-smelling herb. "Tell me something, dearie. In the future, what… am I…?" He heaved a frustrated sigh. "I can't remember anything about my life. I just feel that I'm happy in your world. Happier than I've ever been before." His eyes, usually so hard and flat, connected with mine, and I nearly drowned in their depth. "Why?"

I smiled softly. "You got a second chance at True Love." He sucked in a sharp breath. "You and Belle are very happy together." His eyes glistened with tears—something I'd only seen once before in a hospital room when a newborn baby boy cried out. "And baby Gideon is the cutest thing ever."

"A… A baby?" he whispered, nearly dropping the beaker in his hand into the cauldron.

"Yeah, a baby. He just turned two, and everyone loves him. It's impossible not to. Seriously, he has the chubbiest cheeks ever. I mean, I had some hard feelings for him for, like, a week because he spat up on me one time, and Henry refused to let me live it down. But we've made up since then. He said my name while he was jabbering one day at the diner. Totally made up for it." I smiled at him. "You are very happy in the future, Gold. We all are. I know everyone in this town has a lot of pain and suffering in their pasts, and it feels like Happily Ever After will never come. But, I just want you to know that it does, and it's better than you could imagine. And I know that when Neal and I leave, you all are going to have to forget what I've told you. You'll forget that I was ever even here, but I hope that deep down some part of you might remember that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Even when things get really dark and really hard, I hope that you can somehow know it'll all be worth it in the end."

He looked at me with a small smile. "You're very much like your mothers, Ava, but you did inherit your grandmother's unwavering hope in the good of the world. Most of the time, it's dreadfully annoying." I laughed. "Sometimes, though, it is nice to hear." He glanced over at my mother. "You and Miss Swan have done a good job with her."

Her arm wrapped around me, and I rested my head on her shoulder. "I'd like to take credit, but I think she was just born this way."

"Yeah, I'm naturally pretty great," I shrugged.

Gold rolled his eyes. "There's that Swan arrogance and charm."

"What can I say? I get it honest. Now, what's the next ingredient?"

He nodded to another jar. "That one there."

Reaching out, I shook it around and looked through the tinted glass. "It kind of looks like tongues. What is it really?" I popped the lid and looked inside.

"Oh, that one really is tongues," he answered.

I jerked my head back in disgust. "Gross! Why is magic so nasty sometimes?"

It took hours, but we finished the potion. Gold ladled the dark purple liquid out into a small beaker and corked it before handing it to me.

"I don't have to drink this, do I?" I frowned. "Because I just watched you dissolve tongues and bugs in here, and I am not okay with ingesting that."

"No, you don't drink it," he assured me, and I sighed. "Take it to the well out in the woods. Pour it in there. It will open a portal that will take you back."

"Okay," I nodded. "Well. Pour. Portal. Sounds easy enough." I looked at him sincerely. "Thank you for helping, Gold. We couldn't have done this without you." I wrapped my arms around him in a hug that he was far too shocked and uncomfortable to return. It didn't hurt my feelings. Even in my world, he wasn't much of a hugger. "And I really am sorry about breaking into your shop before."

He croaked out a low laugh. "It's quite alright, dearie. And you're welcome." I stepped back from him. "Now, go. I'm sure you and your cousin are sorely missed in your world."

"Okay." I looked to Mom. "Let's go. We need to get Neal and head to the well." I grabbed the spell book and tucked it with the potion into my coat pockets. "It's time for us to go home."


	14. Chapter 14

I charged up the staircase to the loft apartment and didn't bother to knock before throwing the unlocked door open. Neal sat on the sofa, hugging his legs to his chest and crying while Gran held him to her, rubbing his arms.

"Neal, sweetie, tell me what's wrong?" she asked him quietly. "What happened?"

"A-Ava," he sobbed into his knees.

"What about her? Is she okay? She isn't hurt, is she?"

"She… She…"

"I'm right here." Their heads both snapped up, and Neal's eyes widened at the sight of me.

"Ava!" He scrambled to his feet and nearly knocked me over with a hug. "Oh my God, you're okay!" He lowered his voice. "I'm so sorry. Your mom just showed up, and there was nothing Henry and I could do to stop her." He looked me over. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said. "I'll explain everything to you downstairs." I looked over his shoulder at Gran and flashed her a smile. "Thanks for looking after him, Mary Margaret. He and I just got into a little bit of a fight earlier, and we were both upset. I think we're going to go talk now."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" she questioned. "Maybe you'd just want to stay here? I could make hot cocoa and give you all the privacy you need." It was clear by her tone that she didn't want to see either of us leave, especially not Neal.

"That's okay. I think we're going to take a little walk around the block."

"Alright," she said uncertainly. "Can I expect you two back here? We can still have the hot cocoa. Maybe watch some movies. Have a slumber party." Her eyes were bright and hopeful.

I chewed on the corner of my lips, shoving the guilt down for the lie I was about to tell. "Yeah, absolutely. Sounds like fun. We'll be back soon."

She smiled. "Alright. Be careful."

"We will. Bye." I dragged Neal out of the apartment and quickly down the stairs.

"Ava, what is going on?" he demanded. "Why were you acting so weird with Mom? Where are we going? And what was up with Regina? What happened? She didn't go all Evil Queen on you, did she?"

We stepped outside, and his eyes grew round with horror at the sight of my mother waiting for us there, arms crossed, and eyebrow raised.

"'All Evil Queen'?" she repeated. "What, pray tell, does that mean?"

He didn't give a intelligible response. Just let out a scared squeak and took a small step behind me. I laughed, and Mom's harsh expression broke into a smile.

"Neal, dude, relax," I said, one hand squeezing his shoulder. He looked between the two of us skeptically. "It's fine. She knows."

"She knows? Knows what?"

"About us. Everything."

His eyes bulged. " _What_? You told her? Are you insane? You're the one who told me to keep quiet about this! Space-time continuum and all that shit—remember?"

"Language," Mom chastised, and he shrunk a few sizes.

His ears burned red as he ducked his head. "Sorry, Regina."

I grinned. "I had to tell her, Neal. It was the only way. Besides, I've got good news." I patted my coat pocket with the potion in it. "We've got our ticket back home."

"Seriously?" A grin broke out across his face when I nodded. "Finally! I am so tired of being in this depressing, cursed town!" He looked over at Mom. "No offense."

"None taken."

"But how are we going to cover our tracks? People will remember us from the past, and your mom and Henry know everything. That could be a disaster."

"I'll take care of that," Mom answered. "A simple forgetting spell will fix any issues."

"We've got it all figured out," I said, clapping my hand on his shoulder. "We are getting out of here." He smiled. "Now, let's go. We've got to get to the well in the woods to open the portal."

"What are we waiting on? I'm ready!" he exclaimed, practically vibrating with excitement.

The three of us got into Mom's car where it waited on the curb, and she headed for the woods.

"Who's with Henry right now?" I asked her.

"Miss Swan," she replied. "I called her and told her she could have some extra time with him today. To look after him while I ran an errand."

"Good thinking," I nodded. "Hey, before you cast the forgetting spell, could you do something for me?"

"Anything, dear."

"Tell him that I love him, okay? That I know things are hard right now for him, but it's going to be okay. Tell him that he will always be my best friend. Even when he doesn't remember me anymore. Just make sure he knows that."

She smiled. "Of course, Ava."

She pulled the car over when we reached the trail that led through the woods to the wishing well and continued on foot. The sun was dipping low in the sky, and the temperature dropped as night fell over Storybrooke.

"You know what the first thing I'm going to do is when we get home?" Neal asked.

"Hug your mom and dad?" I said.

He hesitated. "You know what the second thing I'm going to do is?" I shook my head. "Re-watch every movie in my collection. I used to watch one every night—do you know how hard it has been without them? I've forgotten most of them by now. I'm scared my Jack Nicholson impression is slipping." He steeled his expression. " _'You can't handle the truth!'_ " He grinned widely in relief. "Nope. Still spot-on. Man, I'm good."

"You're stupid is what you are," I corrected. "And if you're going to do Jack Nicholson, you have to flare the nostrils. The guy is always either angry or crazy or both. The nostril flare is what sells it."

"Who's the master impressionist here?"

"Whatever you say," I shrugged and leaned over to Mom. "Sometimes, it's best just to go along with his delusions."

"Hey!" He gave my shoulder a playful shove, and Mom and I both chuckled.

"I am going to miss you two," she said. "This town was a very dull place before you came here."

"Eh, give it another two years," Neal waved his hand casually. "Mom and Dad will tell everyone they're going to have a baby, AKA yours truly, and, like, two weeks later, you and Emma will find out you're pregnant."

Mom stopped dead in her tracks, and Neal and I both looked back at her quizzically. There was a wet glimmer in her eyes as she stared at us. "I… I'm the one who gets pregnant?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Ma always said it was a huge surprise. I mean, obviously the fact she could get you pregnant at all was a pretty big shocker. But apparently you weren't supposed to be able to ever get pregnant. Something about a potion you took a long time ago." She nodded her head. "I guess it only worked on natural conception. Magic found a way."

She smiled. "Yes, it did." She wiped at the few tears that had managed to slip from her eyes. "I'm sorry. I just… I never thought I'd be able to bear a child. Knowing that I carried you for nine months, that we shared that bond… I don't know how I ever got so lucky. I don't deserve it."

I wrapped my arm around her. "Sure, you do, Mom."

She shook her head. "You don't know all the things I've done in the past. Terrible things."

"I've got a pretty good idea of it. I've read Henry's book. I know you've got regrets, that you've made mistakes. But that's not who you are really. Like you always say, evil is made not born. Circumstances and bad decisions made you the Evil Queen for a while, but you overcame that. You found who you really are again, and that person is one of the best people I know. She's kind and loving, and she puts others before herself. She's funny, and she is always there when anyone needs her. She's amazing, and she deserves her happy ending."

"I can't believe that I could ever become that person again," she whispered.

"Well, you don't have to, because I do. I believe in you, Mom. Always have. Always will. And Henry believes in you. And Ma. And Gran and Gramps. The whole town. Even Neal." He smiled goofily at us, and she let out a watery laugh. "You used to say that you once thought you were better off alone. That love is weakness. Well, I'm here to tell you that isn't true. You were at your weakest when you pushed people away. In my world, you've got a whole town for a family who loves you and supports you. And you're so much stronger than you ever were as the Evil Queen."

She kissed my forehead. "What am I going to do when you leave?"

"You're going to go back to hating Ma, especially when she breaks the curse. You'll be sad for a while, but then you two will form a weird friendship. And then, against all the odds, you'll fall in love with each other. You'll get pregnant, and then you'll get married after I'm born. And it'll be you, me, Ma, and Henry all together." I grinned. "Happily Ever After."

She beamed in agreement. "Happily Ever After."

We reached the well, and I pulled the spell book from my pocket. "Do we need this?"

"Yes, it's as much a part of the spell as the potion is." Taking it in her hands, she opened it to the correct page and placed it on the ground gingerly. "The potion will draw from its magic as well as yours."

"Alright," I sighed and took the vial from my pocket. "Let's do this then." I started towards the well.

"Ava!" Spinning around with wide eyes, I watched as Henry and Ma tore through the woods towards us.

"Henry," Mom gasped. "What are you doing out here?" She started to say something to Ma but stopped and instead just stared at her. I could see it in her eyes. That recognition. Like she was seeing her for the first time.

"I had to make sure you were okay." Henry bounded to me. "I was afraid of what she might do to you."

"It's alright, Hen," I assured him. "I'm fine. How did you know where to find us?"

"Emma and I went to Granny's for dinner, and I saw Mom's car. I had to follow to make sure you were okay. I told Emma it was an emergency to get her to drive me."

I smiled. "Well, I'm fine. Mom knows, and she helped us get the spell. We're going back now."

"You are?" he said. "You were going to leave without saying goodbye?"

"Not anymore I'm not." I hugged his neck. "Goodbye, Henry. I love you."

He sniffled into my shoulder. "I love you, too, Ava." Pulling away, he shot Neal a smile. "Love you, too, Uncle Neal." He grinned. "Be careful."

"Does anyone want to tell me what the hell is going on here?" Ma demanded. "What are you doing all the way out here? Ava, where are you and Neal supposed to be going? Why is there a weird-ass book on the ground?" She looked at Mom. "And why do you keep looking at me like that?"

I laughed, shaking my head. "It's a very long story I don't have the time or energy to explain right now. How about the shortened version? Magic is real. Henry's book was right about everything. Neal and I came here accidentally from the future. You and Regina are going to get married. Neal's your little brother. I'm your daughter that you and Mom had through magic. We're about to go back to our world now. I think that sums it up. Oh, and you won't remember any of this after we leave."

Ma gawked at me, wide-eyed, for several seconds before she found her voice in the back of her throat. "Come again?"

"No time to recap." I smiled at her. "I just want you to know that I love you, and we'll see each other again soon enough." I turned back to the well and took the cork out of the vial. "Alright. Here goes nothing." Holding it over the mouth of the well, I turned the bottle upside down and poured its contents into the well. When it was empty, I backed away quickly in case of a violent reaction. For several agonizing seconds, we waited in silence.

"What's going on?" I asked. "Why isn't it working? It should be working. We did everything the book said. We made the potion exactly like it is supposed to be made. We brought the stupid book. We did everything."

"I don't know," Mom whispered, brow knit. "Maybe it isn't strong enough."

"No, it has to be," I shook my head. "It has to be strong enough. We did everything right."

Ma placed a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, Ava, kid. Take it easy, alright? I know you think that it's magic, but—"

"No!" I jerked away from them both. My blood boiled, and frustrated tears burned in my eyes. "No, it isn't supposed to be like this! It's supposed to work! The portal is supposed to open, and then Neal and I go home. That's how it works! So, why the fuck isn't it happening?" I glared down at the book furiously. "This stupid fucking book!" I marched to it and grabbed it with both hands. "I want to go home, do you hear me? I want to go back to my home right now! Open the fucking portal!"

"Ava—" Neal began.

"Take me home!" I slammed my fist against the page as I began openly weeping, crumbling to my knees. Bowing my head, I closed my eyes. "Please. Please, take me home." A single solitary tear rolled down my cheek and to my chin. It clung to my skin a few moments before dropping and landing on the page.

Everything happened in a flash after that.

The ground rumbled, and a roaring sound filled the air. Lifting my head, I looked around. The others were all on their knees as well as the earth trembled violently. Then, a rushing sound, like that of a rocky river, emitted from the bottom of the well. The wind picked up. A strange, damp smell stung my nostrils. Suddenly, with a swirl of light and air, a portal ripped open in front of us.

"It worked," I breathed, gaping at it. A big grin spread over my face. "Oh my God, it worked!"

"You did it!" Neal laughed and slung his arm around my shoulders. "I knew you had it in you, Ava!"

"Thank God you did," I said back. "Because I definitely didn't." He smiled. "You go ahead, Neal. Take that thing out of here. I'm right behind you. I just want to say goodbye."

"Don't be too long, okay?" he said, and I nodded. "See you on the other side." Throwing a smile and wave back at the others, he ran through the portal, disappearing beyond it. I stood and turned to my family. Henry and Ma gaped at the portal, while Mom only smiled with tears in her eyes.

"That's my ride out of here," I said lamely.

Ma's eyes flickered to me, wet and red, and she struggled to speak. "A-Ava… I remember now."

"How come you are always the last one to figure it out, Ma?" I teased with a smile, and Mom and Henry laughed.

"You should hurry, dear," Mom advised me in a strained voice. "That portal won't stay open for long."

"I know. I just…" Exhaling, I sprinted to the three of them and hugged them close. "I just want you guys to know how much I love you. You might not remember all of this, but I always will. I love you so, so much, and I promise this isn't goodbye forever. Just until I'm actually born in this world." I grinned at them. "I love you guys."

"We love you, Ava," Ma choked out and kissed my cheek. "We'll see you soon."

"Bye." Stepping back from them, I turned to the portal. With a deep breath, I ran towards it.

I was mere inches away from it, about to jump through, when something tightened around my ankle. With a yelp, I was jerked backwards, landing hard on my face on the ground. Turning, I saw a long vine of black smoke coming from the inside of the spell book where I'd left it. It held onto me tight, refusing to let me go.

"What is that?" I demanded.

"The book," Mom said. "It's still clinging to you. It won't let you go."

I looked forward at the rapidly shrinking portal. "No! I did not come this far to fail now!" Using my hands, I tried to drag myself forward. With every inch I gained, though, its grip tightened and dragged me back another three. "No, no, no! Let me go!" I jerked myself forward, and the hold on my ankle tightened like a python until there was a sickly crack. I screamed out, tears of pain and sorrow streaming down my face.

"We've got to do something!" Ma exclaimed.

"I can try to contain it." Mom threw her hands out and uttered something under her breath. Suddenly, a beam of purple light shot out at the book. It vibrated under the continual force, but its grip on me didn't lessen. Mom ground her teeth at it. "It's not enough to stop it!"

"It has to be!" Ma shouted, and she was crying as well as she looked at me. "She has to get home!"

"Well, Miss Swan, unless you've got some magic hidden up your—" Mom fell silent as Ma desperately thrust her hands out as well. Her eyes closed, and she knit her grow. "What are you doing?"

"You can do this, Emma," Henry said to her. "You're the Savior. I believe in you."

Mom hesitated. "As do I. Help me save our daughter, Emma."

Suddenly, white light erupted from Ma's fingertips at the book. It shook harder before rising into the air. They both glared at it as they held it there, eyes trained on it. It quivered even more violently, and a scream pierced out of it that sounded so strangely like a woman's. I could feel the grip on my ankle begin to lessen and lessen until, finally, it released me. Under the combined force of my mothers, the book was reduced to a pile of ash.

"You did it!" Henry exclaimed happily. "I knew you could!"

"Ava, hurry!" Ma shouted as I struggled to get to my feet. My ankle seared with white-hot pain as I limped closer to the portal that was half its original size and closing fast. With one last look over my shoulder at the three of them, their arms around each other as they watched me, I launched myself forward into the cold depths of the portal just before it closed. Inside, I was swallowed up by darkness.


	15. Chapter 15

_A/N: So, here it is. The last chapter. Finally. Lol. Hope y'all like where this story has gone-it has taken turns that I had not imagined it would, but I'm happy with where it's gone. Let me know if you are, too. :)_

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I tumbled through the darkness, falling forward as I shrieked out. Between the disorientation of hurling through time and the excruciating pain in my injured ankle, I was a sweating, convulsing mess when I landed on hard, cold pavement.

"Ava!"

My eyes opened, and I looked around in confusion. I was in the middle of town, the same place Neal and I went missing from before. To my right, I only barely caught the sight of the portal closing for good, and I hoped that it had worked. That I wasn't in some other world by accident.

Strong arms wrapped around me, and I was pulled off the ground. Turning my head, I saw Henry looking down at me in concern. Not young Henry. Not a different Henry. One look at him, and I knew he was _my_ Henry.

I smiled in relief. "I'm back."

"Yeah, you're back." Brushing my hair from my face, he smiled. "Rough ride?"

A hoarse laugh crackled out of my throat. "You have no idea."

My entire family all crowded over me in concern.

"Ava, what took you so long?" Neal demanded. "You said you were just saying goodbye."

"I did," I said, "and then I tried to go through the portal, but the book grabbed me."

"The book?" Ma knit her brow.

"Yeah, it was the book. Well, sort of. I think she was somehow inside of it. Cora, I mean. Whatever was left of her was in that book. Some small part, and it wanted my magic. It grabbed me and pulled me backward and then… I tried to get away, but it just held me tighter. I think it might have broken my ankle." I grimaced down at my right ankle, bent at an unnatural angle. "Yeah, broke." My head fell back against Henry's arm, and I looked up at my mothers at either side of him. "I thought I wasn't going to make it, but then you two saved me. You both used magic, and you destroyed the book." I smiled. "You saved me."

"We always will," Mom said, stroking my cheek. "No matter what world we're in."

"How about I help you out with a little magic now?" Ma proposed and took my broken ankle gently in her hands. I clenched my jaw at the responding pain, diminishing a scream to a whimper. "Just breathe. This shouldn't hurt." A soothing heat traveled from my mother's fingertips to my skin and deeper to the bone. I released a breath and watched as tendrils of white smoke wrapped around my entire foot. When they disappeared, the pain was gone, and my ankle was as good as new.

Ma smiled at me. "There. Better?"

"Much," I nodded. "Thank you." With the pain gone, I became much more alert, and I looked around in amazement. "Wait. It worked, right? I'm actually home, aren't I? Not in another time or dimension? Because, honestly, I can't handle another trip like that."

Gramps laughed over me from where he and Gran both clung to Neal. "Yeah. You're both home where you belong."

I sighed and relaxed my tense muscles. "Oh, thank God. Remember how I used to complain sometimes about how boring Storybrooke can be? I take it back. I love boring. Boring is my new favorite thing." They laughed, and I looked up at my parents and Henry. "I really missed you guys."

"We missed you, too," Mom said, and the three of them practically smothered me in hugs. I grinned under the attention that I would've shunned before. Getting sent to another dimension will really give you some perspective on the important things. "Don't ever do anything like that again, young lady. Do you hear me? You had us scared to death."

"I promise I will never again open a portal to the past," I said with a smile. "Not that I meant to do it the first time, but I'll be more careful with magic from now on."

"You'd better," Ma teased. "Or else I'll have to have the Sheriff arrest you."

I rolled my eyes. "Still not funny, Ma. It will never be funny."

"You must be tired," Henry mused. "You probably want to go home and rest."

"Actually, there is something I'd like," I said with a big grin, and they all raised their eyebrows at me. "Granny's just wasn't the same when no one knew who I was."

Mom laughed. "You're seriously hungry? You just got back from inter-dimensional travel, and all you can think of is food?"

"Absolutely. I'm starved."

Ma beamed at me. "That's my girl."

I stood up, bouncing on my heels slightly to make sure my ankle could support my weight. "What do you guys think? A welcome home dinner at Granny's?"

"Sounds wonderful," Mom smiled. "I'm sure Granny and Ruby will be thrilled to see you two again. They've been worried sick since you disappeared."

"Maybe Neal can keep his eyes off Ruby's cleavage in this world," I smirked, and his cheeks turned bright red.

"Excuse me?" Gran looked down at him sharply. "What were you looking at over there?"

"I was… she just has such a big heart," he stammered, and I laughed loudly. "Thanks, Ava. Geez, we've been home all of five minutes, and you're already back on my case."

"Love you, too, dude," I grinned.

Granny and Ruby weren't the only two excited to see Neal and I home safe again. All the patrons participated in our returning party, and as time went on, the entire town seemed to show out to welcome us back.

"It's good to have you back, darling." Zelena walked up to me as I stood in the middle of the diner and wrapped her arm that wasn't holding my baby cousin Robin around me. "Oh, you do look a mess, though."

"Well, I just traveled through space and time," I returned. "What's your excuse?"

She grinned. "I have missed you."

"Back at you. Now, this is supposed to be a party, right? So, where's the music? A party isn't complete without music. Otherwise it's just lame. I'll be right back." I moved through the crowd to the jukebox in the corner and sifted through the songs, eyes narrowed.

"Did you really go back in time?"

The quiet voice drew my attention to my side where a girl stood. She looked to be about my age with long, sleek black hair that reflected the light like water, deep brown eyes framed with thick lashes, and tan, flawless skin. As soon as I saw her, my mind blanked, and my heart jolted up my throat and bounced on my tongue. I stared at her with big, stunned eyes, rooted to the spot. She was, without doubt, the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen, and just how the hell was I supposed to respond to that?

My voice finally came out choked and weak. "Huh?"

If I'd had any control over my body at that point, I would've tried to melt into the floor and disappear from the embarrassment.

"Someone said you traveled back in time," she said again, and her thick accent was so mesmerizing even though I couldn't quite place its origin. "Is that true?"

"Uh, yeah," I nodded, swallowing. "I did. Just got back."

"That's remarkable. It must've been amazing."

"Mostly it was terrifying," I admitted, and she smiled. My breath hitched in my chest. God, she was radiant. "I-I'm Ava, by the way. Ava Swan-Mills."

"I'm Sari," she said.

I knit my brow. "Sorry for what?"

"No, not sorry," she corrected. "Sari is my name. Sari Jamal. My father and I came here from Agrabah."

My cheeks burned as I silently cursed myself for the blunder. "Oh, man. That was really stupid."

She laughed, and the melodic sound made my chest tighten and my heart swell simultaneously. "No, it's fine. I think it's cute."

"Well, if you think stupid is cute, you're going to find me adorable."

Her smile softened at me. "I already do."

I gulped, the corners of my lips tipping upwards. "So, uh, you're from Agrabah? That's one long magic carpet ride."

She scoffed. "You're telling me. It seems like such a great mode of transportation until the wind has tangled your hair, and the bugs are in your teeth."

My eyes widened. "Wait, you seriously rode a magic carpet all the way from Agrabah?"

She was serious for only a second before she laughed again. "No, I was joking. That's impossible. We took a portal."

"Oh, okay," I smiled back at her. "That makes more sense. Although, in my experience, they aren't too comfortable, either. What brought you here to Storybrooke?"

"We wanted a change of scenery," she said simply, and her eyes dimmed a bit. "After my mother passed a few years ago, Agrabah no longer felt like home."

I frowned. "Oh, I'm sorry. That sucks."

"It does," she nodded before smiling at me again. "Storybrooke seemed like a place anyone could come and feel at home. It felt like the right time to move on."

"Well, I know you'll like it here," I said. "Storybrooke is great. Everyone is kind and welcoming. We're all like one happy family."

Her eyes sparkled at me. "I think I already like it here." I grinned, and she nodded to the jukebox. "What song are you going to pick?"

"Oh, I don't know. I was just looking through here. Most of these are pretty old because Granny refuses to get a new one." I glanced over at her. "Do you have jukeboxes in Agrabah?"

"We're not barbarians, Ava," she chuckled, and the way my name sounded in her voice made my head light. "Actually, we've made great strides in modernizing over the past few years. So, yes, I know what a jukebox is."

I cleared my throat, glancing over at her. "So, does that mean you've got a phone, too?"

She smiled widely and retrieved the device from her pocket. "Yep."

"Oh, that's cool. Y'know, I've got one, too. Not on me right now—it's back home. I left it by accident before I went realm-hopping." She grinned. "But I do have one. And it has a working number."

"Fascinating," she said. "Well, you're the first friend I've made since I got here, so it would be nice to have your number."

"That is a great idea that never once crossed my mind before. Why don't I put it in for you?"

"By all means." She handed me her phone, and I added my name and number to her contact list. She looked down at it when I gave it back and smirked. "'Adorable Ava'?"

"You're the one who said it, not me," I shrugged before blushing. "You can, uh, change it if you want."

"No," she said, pocketing her phone again. "It suits you too well."

I grinned as I looked back at the jukebox, my bottom lip held between my teeth. I flipped through a couple more titles before finding the perfect one.

"This one," I said, pressing the button. "This is one of my favorites." The needle dropped onto the record, and "I Melt With You" by Modern English began to play out. For a while, I was too nervous to look over at her. If she didn't like the song—or if I had totally misread the situation—things would get humiliatingly awkward between us.

Then, as the chorus began to play, I heard that captivating voice softly singing along, and my head shot up in surprise. She smiled at me.

"You know it?" I asked.

She nodded. "Of course, I know it. I love this song."

Okay. That was it. This girl was officially perfect.

I swallowed. "Y-You have a really beautiful voice." She had a really beautiful everything, but I wasn't brave enough to say that. At least not yet.

She smiled at me and took a small step closer. Her fingers brushed the back of my hand and left goosebumps in their wake. "Thank you." For what was either an eternity or a second, I drowned in those dark, endless eyes, smooth as silk. They held me in stasis-and I had no desire to escape.

"Sari!" A tall, broad man with thick black hair and dark eyes near the front of the diner called out to her and ripped us out of our trance. "Come on, let's go home."

"That's my dad," she said. "I've got to go, but I'll see you later, yeah? Maybe we could meet here tomorrow for lunch?"

I rubbed the back of my neck, my chin dipping bashfully. "I'd love to."

"Good. I'll call you later." She walked backwards from me, beaming. "Bye, Adorable Ava."

"Bye, Sari." I stared after her as she and her father left the diner together. It wasn't until she left that I realized there was a dazed, goofy smile on my face. As quick as I could, I wiped it off with my hand and made my way over to the table where my family sat. It was then that I noticed all their eyes on me. Everyone was grinning knowingly at me. Everyone except my mothers.

"Uh-oh," I muttered as I trudged to them. "Hey, guys. Um, what's up?"

"You tell us, Romeo," Neal said, and Gran swatted his arm. "Ow!"

"Don't tease," she said before looking back at me with a smile. "Who was that you were talking to?"

"Um, her name's Sari Jamal," I answered, tapping the toe of my shoe against the floor awkwardly. "She and her dad are from Agrabah. She likes the same music as me."

"Didn't look like that was the only thing she liked," Henry said, and my ears burned. "You got game, sis."

"Well, she is a Charming after all." Gramps grinned and threw me a wink.

I crossed my arms. "I don't know what you guys are talking about."

"Don't think we didn't see you giving her your number," Henry said. "Very slick."

Judging by its temperature, my face must've been a deep shade of purple by then.

"Hey now." Henry grabbed my hand and pulled me into the booth beside him. "Don't be embarrassed. I'm congratulating you. You know how long it took before I could ever form full sentences in front of girls, much less give one my number? You're already doing better than I did." He grinned at me. "She's pretty, huh?"

I hesitated before shrugging. "I mean, sure."

"Come on, Ava. Don't play it off."

The corners of my mouth curled upward. "Okay, fine then. She's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, and she's smart and funny. And she called me cute. And she said she'd call me. We're supposed to get lunch together tomorrow." I glanced up at him. "I like her, and I didn't even know I liked girls like that. Maybe I don't like girls—maybe I just like her. I don't know, but I just... I like her a lot."

"Oh, no." The strangled words came across the booth from my mother, and I looked over at her. She and Ma were staring at me in horror. Mom covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh, God. She's dating now. How can she be dating already?"

"She's still supposed to be a baby," Ma said just as dreadfully. "How did this happen? What did that alternate world do to you?"

"Hey, whoa." I threw my palms up. "I'm not dating, alright? I just talked to a pretty girl. Who I gave my phone number. Who I'll see at a later, pre-arranged time." I paused before my eyes widened. "Wait a minute! Oh my God, did she just ask me out on a date? How did she do that without me knowing? She's even smarter than I thought." They all laughed, even my moms. "Oh, man. I thought it was just like a friendly lunch. This changes _everything_! What am I going to wear? How should I do my hair? Should I wear makeup? What if I say something stupid? What if I'm not as cute tomorrow, or she doesn't think I'm as funny then? Oh, this is terrifying!"

"Calm down, kid," Ma said with a smile. "She likes you, or she wouldn't have asked you out. The hard part is over. All you have to do is go to lunch tomorrow and be your amazing self." She and Mom held hands. "You're growing up too fast, Ava."

"Entirely too fast," Mom agreed. "But I must say that your mother and I are extraordinarily proud of who you're growing up to be."

"We all are," Gramps added and ruffled Neal's hair. "Both of you. It's good to have the family all together again."

"It's really good to be back," Neal sighed. "No offense, guys, but you all kind of sucked under the curse."

"Agreed." I rested my head against the back of the booth with a sigh. "Dealing with you was exhausting. I hate curses, and I hate secrets. They both take way too much effort." I looked across the table at my mothers. "So, I know Neal and I are kind of the guest of honors, but is there anyway we can go? I really want to put on some warm pajamas and have some hot cocoa at home with you guys. I missed it."

"Of course," Mom nodded. "I think the party will survive just fine without us." She, Ma, Henry, and I stood from the booth and said our goodnights. Then, we went home and gathered in the living room where Ma started a fire in the hearth. Ma and Mom sat side-by-side on the sofa, legs curled up under themselves, while Henry and I were seated on the floor at their feet, our heads laid back on the cushion of the sofa and our socked feet warming in front of the fire.

"I really missed you guys," I said, breaking the comfortable silence that had spread over the room for the past few minutes.

"We missed you, too," Ma said as she intertwined her fingers with Mom's. "More than you can know."

I took a big gulp of my drink. "Can we make a deal to never be apart again?" They all smiled.

"Sure thing," Henry nodded. "I've been thinking about coming back to Storybrooke for good for a while now, and there's a great apartment I've got my eye on."

I lifted my head to look straight at him, eyes bright. "You're moving back?"

"Yeah. Storybrooke's always been my home. I can still write from here and do everything I do in New York."

"Don't let him fool you," Ma grinned slyly. "I saw him chatting up a girl at the party tonight. That's why he's really coming back."

"Hey, Ella's not the only reason," he said quickly, and I grinned. "I've just missed home."

"Well, whatever's brought you back, I'm happy for it," Mom said. "I'd like to keep both of my children here with me as long as possible."

"Uh-oh, Ava," Henry said to me. "After everything that's happened, she may never let you out of her sight again. You'd better keep an eye out for any mysterious, locked towers that might pop up around town. Start growing your hair out now, Rapunzel."

"Henry Daniel Mills." Mom swatted his arm while we all laughed.

"I love you guys," I chuckled, my eyelids growing heavy.

"We love you, too, sweetie," Mom said and smirked when I yawned. "Now, I think it's time for someone to head for bed."

"Jet lag is finally getting to her," Ma smiled as I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "Brush your teeth and get to sleep, kid."

I stood and started for the stairs. When I reached the bottom of them, though, I stopped and turned back to them hesitantly. "Uh, Moms?"

"Yes?" They both looked back at me.

I rubbed my arm awkwardly. "Is there any way that maybe I could, um, sleep in your room tonight?" They raised their eyebrows in concern.

"Is something wrong?" Mom questioned.

"Well, no. Not yet, I mean. It's just that I went under the sleeping curse before, and you remember what Gran and Henry both said about the nightmares that come from that." I cleared my scratchy throat. "I'd just rather not be alone tonight."

My mothers smiled softly at me.

"Of course, Ava," Ma said. "You can sleep with us tonight. Any night you want."

I smiled in relief. "Thank you. I'm going to go change and brush my teeth. Night, Hen."

"Night, Ava. Sleep tight."

As I headed up the stairs for my bathroom, my heart felt lighter than it had in so long, even with the possibility of the coming nightmares. It didn't really matter how terrifying they were. Something told me that nothing could hurt me anymore. I'd been through the worst, and I'd made it through. I was finally where I belonged. I was home, and the future looked brighter than ever before.

* * *

 _Thank you guys for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. The ending changed several times for me. I was a little nervous about the addition of Sari, but it felt right to me to add her. This story has been something totally new for me, as I've never created original characters for a fanfic before. Let me know if you like the ending or if you think there should be an epilogue. I'm wondering if maybe I want to do some one-shots continuing Ava's story (probably just Swan-Mills crack and fluff). Let me know if you'd like that. I've really fallen in love with Ava's character as well as Neal's and the dynamic they have. Might be fun to explore Sari more as well. Seriously, though, thank you all for reading and reviewing. I hoped you've enjoyed reading this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Y'all are the shit. :)_


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